


There has to be an After for Us

by Chilly Super Punk (kelamorrison)



Series: Before and After [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura's character arc gets fixed, Astral Projection, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Fun with Team Punk, Gay Keith (Voltron), Insecure Lance (Voltron), Justice for Adam, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith and Lance are forced to confess their feelings, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Shadam, Shiro and Adam get closure, adashi, klance, klance happy ending, starts after season 7 and diverges so that nightmare of a season 8 didn't go down like that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2019-07-07 08:10:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 58
Words: 131,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15904323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelamorrison/pseuds/Chilly%20Super%20Punk
Summary: CURRENTLY UPDATING WITH POST SEASON 8 CHAPTERS STARTING AT CHAPTER 47!!!!!Haunted by dreams of Adam, Shiro turns to Allura to help him reach out to his lost love. The Paladins aid him in traveling to the Astral Plane in hopes of meeting Adam one last time.Post season 8 BONUS CHAPTERS starting at Chapter 47!!SUMMARY OF BONUS CHAPTERS: Reality stopped existing for a few minutes despite having successfully saved the universe with no lives lost. After realizing the other versions of themselves in the branch off reality must have caused this, the Paladins and friends return to the astral plane to hear the full story only to discover they are needed to save all the non-physical planes.See chapter 47 for additional character tags.





	1. The After

Chapter 1 - The After

Shiro’s fingertips had grown cold. He didn’t know how long he’d been standing there, touching that one word on the fallen soldier memorial.

A name: 

Adam.

It was all that was left.

“Was he someone special to you?” asked Allura.

Shiro hadn’t heard her approach. Maybe he would’ve been startled had he not already been feeling so much.

“We were engaged,” said Shiro.

“Oh Shiro, I’m so sorry,” said Allura, emotion filling her voice.

“He broke it off right before I left for space. He told me if I went on the Kerberos mission to not expect him to be here when I got back. He was right I guess.”

“That’s terrible, Shiro,” said Allura, stepping up to Shiro and hugging him on pure instinct.

Shiro’s fingertips finally lifted off the name as he slowly wrapped his arms around the Princess. She was a dear friend. He’d never opened up to her before, but what was there left to lose?

“I’ve been having these dreams lately,” said Shiro. His voice felt disconnected. It’s not like he was choosing his words, it was just coming out on its own. “That I’m back in the astral plane.” Shiro shuddered. He’d been trapped there so long between life and death. The other-worldly sky was seared in his memory. When he closed his eyes he’d see blue and red stars.

Allura waited patiently for him to continue. Surely there was more to this dream of his.

“This time it’s different. I keep hearing Adam’s voice, but when I turn to look, he’s not there.”

“Do you think he’s reaching out to you?” asked Allura.

This question sent a bolt of shock through Shiro. “Re-reaching out to me? I don’t understand.”

“From the after,” said Allura. 

Shiro pulled back to look at her. “The after? I still don’t follow.”

Allura blinked, realizing he truly didn’t know what she meant. “In Altean culture we believe that once your mortal life is complete, there’s an after, a place where our quintessence goes when we’ve passed. When we travel to the astral plane, we leave our physical body behind and only our quintessence makes the journey. The belief is that if our quintessence can travel from this world to the astral plane that those who have passed on and are only their quintessence may be able to travel to the astral plane as well. Some Alteans have claimed to have met loved ones on the astral plane, but these things are never verifiable.”

“We have these concepts on Earth,” said Shiro. “There’s lots of interpretations, but the idea of an afterlife is part of nearly all Earth religions. I guess in the Altean context the astral plane would be our limbo.”

“Limbo?” questioned Allura. “Like that stick dance Lance made us do on his birthday?”

“No, it has another meaning. Like an in-between place between life and death.” Shiro felt cold again. Before there had always been a crisis to keep his mind from processing his time when he was dead, in the astral plane where time was not a concept, where he was in limbo.

“It certainly sounds the same. Perhaps you really are having more than just dreams. Maybe Adam is calling out and wants to meet you there. Would you like to try to see him?”

Shiro didn’t know how to react. Allura was talking like this was all very practical and not impossible like it should be. “I…,” Shiro almost said he wasn’t sure if he wanted to, but instead he said, “I don’t think I can travel to the astral plane anymore. I think I lost that ability.”

“Perhaps, but we may be able to bring you there.”

Shiro wondered who the ‘we’ was, but then it was obvious. The other Paladins. Great…

“The decision is yours,” said Allura. “I understand if it’s too painful. It’s just in Altean culture we believe that if the dead send you a message, you are best to hear it.” Allura looked sad suddenly.

Shiro remembered though young, she’d lost so much. All her family and friends were dead. If anyone could understand his feelings with true respect, it was Allura.

“I appreciate what you’re offering,” said Shiro. “I want to try.” And when he said it, he knew it was true. He’d do anything to see Adam one more time.


	2. What to wear when you're expecting to leave your body

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance's request for fashion advice morphs into a asking for love advice and Keith really can't handle that. Especially not alone in Lance's bedroom.

Chapter 2 – What to wear when you’re expecting to leave your body

“How’s this for a séance outfit?” asked Lance, doing a little twirl.

“You didn’t seriously invite me to your room to watch you change, did you?” asked Keith. He realized too late what that sounded like. Luckily Lance was oblivious.

“I’m not hearing a yes or a no,” teased Lance, still spinning slowly around.

“That’s not an outfit, it’s just your Altean pajamas,” said Keith.

“Yeah! It’s a slumber party!”

“I’m confused –”

“You often are.”

“Is it a séance or a slumber party?”

“It’s both,” said Lance. “Duh!”

“How is that a duh? Nevermind. Look, I don’t think we should be calling this a séance or dressing special,” said Keith. “It feels disrespectful.”

“Then why are you dressed special?” asked Lance.

Keith very nearly blushed. He looked down at his clothes. “I’m… not?”

“Yeah, you are,” said Lance. “You’re dressed all emo like you’re going to a séance.”

“These are just my regular clothes,” said Keith.

Lance shook his head. “Colour exists, Keith. You should try including it in your wardrobe sometime.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Keith. He’d had his favourite red jacket, but he’d left it in the Castleship before he’d left for the Blade. Likely its atoms were contained in the diamond crystal now. Even if it had survived, it was likely too small.

“Oh, that reminds me,” said Lance, rummaging back inside his closet.

‘Please don’t let him change in front of me,’ thought Keith. ‘I really can’t handle that.’

But to his surprise what Lance pulled out was his red jacket. “Here,” said Lance, holding it out. “I went past your room when we were evacuating the castle and it was just sitting there on your bed all sad. I grabbed it thinking you might want it back.”

“Thank you,” said Keith, holding it to his chest more like a security blanket than a jacket.

“Probably not going to fit over those big arm muscles you grew though,” said Lance because he can never not talk. “How much do you think you can bench press?”

“I… don’t know.”

“Yep. I’m pretty sure my growth spurt will come along any day now,” said Lance, stretching his natural lengthy body upwards. “Not that the ladies have ever complained.”

Keith felt his heart sink then immediately felt disappointed with himself. Wasn’t he long over this crush? He wasn’t a boy anymore and it seemed clear Lance was strictly hetero.

“Do you think the Princess likes me?” asked Lance, out of literally nowhere.

“She tolerates you,” said Keith. “We all do.”

“No, likes me likes me.”

Startled, Keith looked at Lance’s face, but Lance was looking down at the ground with a bit of colour in his cheeks.

“I…don’t know,” said Keith, feeling like a robot.

“She’s been giving me these looks…,” said Lance.

‘Like you would recognize a significant look,’ Keith thought, bitterly, but then he kicked himself. Lance would notice a look if it were mutual.

“Veronica said she likes me, but I don’t know.” Lance got quiet. “Keith, can I tell you something?”

“I don’t know what you would, but go ahead,” said Keith, his voice flat.

“I haven’t actually gone out with anyone… or kissed anyone… or even actually told anyone that I liked them.”

“That’s a little surprising,” said Keith, honestly.

“Why? Have you?” asked Lance, accusingly.

“No,” admitted Keith. “But I’ve been busy.”

“Me too!” cried Lance. “Like we’ve never stopped moving since this whole Paladin-destiny-save-the-universe thing began. It’s not that I haven’t wanted to, but we’ve never had real time for relationships. It’s like our whole youth got put on pause while we did this huge, crazy thing, but now it’s done. Well, mostly. And Earth is becoming this intergalactic peace haven and nothing has come along to kill us in weeks it’s like, okay, it’s time.”

Keith didn’t know what to say. What could he say? Lance, I liked you and maybe I still do? No, Lance wanted advice on the Princess and Keith just wasn’t capable of doing that. “I think I’m the wrong person to ask about this stuff,” said Keith, being honest but vague.

“Yeah, but I’m kinda strapped for options here. Last time I mentioned the Princess to Pidge and Hunk, they mocked me pretty hard. And Shiro’s obviously going through something and I can’t talk to the Princess about her.” Lance was doing that adorable thing he does where he counts things out on his fingers, but he folds them down out of order and ends up holding up random fingers on each hand.

“Do the last part maybe,” said Keith.

“Talk to the Princess?”

“Yeah,” said Keith. No, that’s not what he wanted to say, but he’d caught himself thinking Lance was cute and the only remedy for that was extreme self-sabotage.

“I just told you I can’t.”

“Kinda concerns her though.”

“Whatever. Fine,” pouted Lance. “How do I do that?”

“Ask her out,” said Keith. He was struggling not to sound grumpy. He truly regretted coming to Lance’s room alone now.

“Can we role-play it?”

“No.”

“Please,” said Lance, using the prayer hands to beg. “Just be a Princess for me. Just this one time.”

Exit. Keith needed an exit.

“Hey, you saw flashes of the future, right?” asked Lance. “What did you see of me? Was I dating Allura?”

“I’m not a psychic, Lance!!” yelled Keith. He was going to run for it. He was going to knock Lance down and run for the bedroom door. He didn’t care how it made him look. He’d find a way to explain it to Lance later, but he had to go.

“Whoa, sorry,” said Lance, of course stepping in front of Keith, like he knew a trapped animal when he saw one.

Keith was going to push him down. He was. It’s just he kinda put his hands on Lance’s chest to shove him and then he stopped. Just stopped. And then suddenly he was just standing there with his hands on Lance’s pecs and Lance was looking down at his hands with this confused look and he knew Lance was really thrown off because he actually stopped talking. Then the worst thing happened. Lance looked up at him and their eyes met. Close range eye contact… physical contact… Oh no…

“Slumber party!” screamed Hunk, leaping into the doorway.

Keith panicked. And then he did it. He shoved Lance. He shoved him right to the ground…

Then looked at Hunk who had this tired look on his face. “You two seriously fighting again?”

“Ah ha ha,” said Lance, getting to his feet. “You know us. Keith and Lance. Always at each other’s throats. Rivals to the bitter end.”

Why was Lance covering for him? Keith had just yelled at him, inappropriately touched his chest, likely gave him the most obvious ‘please kiss me’ look in the history of human attraction then shoved him to the ground. The only possible explanation for why Lance wasn’t immediately calling him a lunatic and demanding he explain is that Lance really thought they were fighting… maybe.

“Anyway,” said Hunk, moving past whatever the hell that was. “I picked up the candles for the séance.” He held up a backpack. “And I brought thermos of hot chocolate and I made séance cookies!”

“Bro, you are the best,” said Lance, grabbing at the backpack.

“Ugh,” said Pidge, in place of a greeting as she appeared behind Hunk. “Let’s go get this affront to science over with.”

“How can you still have that attitude after all the ‘afic e’ve een,” said Lance.

“What?” asked everyone in unison.

Lance swallowed his bite of séance cookie. “After all the magic we’ve seen. Séance kinda fits right in with our experiences so far.”

“Guys, can we not call it a séance?” said Keith, finding he could clear his head now that his interactions with Lance had supervision. “It feels disrespectful to Shiro… And to Adam… This shouldn’t be a fun night. We need to respect the dead. I mean… I knew Adam.”

“I knew him a little,” said Lance. “He was my teacher in three of my classes. I liked him. He only threatened to fail me once.”

“He was a really good teacher,” agreed Hunk.

“He was more than that,” said Pidge. “When I was a student he figured out I was lying about my identity, but he never outted me. He covered for me. He understood my mission to find answers about my family.”

The four Paladins stood in silence for a moment.

“I think we’re in the right mood now,” said Hunk. “Let’s go meet up with Shiro and Allura.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	3. A Warning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let the seance begin! The Paladins attempt to contact the dead and instead receive a warning from the White Lion.

Chapter 3 – A Warning

“Why are we outside?” asked Hunk. “I thought séances were supposed to happen inside, like in a bedroom or a living room or a basement or an abandoned building or a cemetery? Wait, that last one is outside, but I don’t like that one. So is this a good spot for this?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure,” said Allura. The Paladins kept using that word séance, which they’d explained meant spirit summoning. Really this was meant to be more of a spirit meeting on neutral ground, but it’s not like there was a proper word for that even in Altean. “Shiro had the dreams in his bedroom and on one hand, it would make sense to use the space where the Passed,” she used the Altean PC term for dead, “made contact, however, Adam and Shiro had no connection to that particular room in his living days as the dorms we’re in are newly built. So I decided it was best to do this outside near the Lions.”

The Lions sat in a circle around the group on the tarmac. Hunk was setting up the candles he’d brought in a circle and lighting them. Pidge was inside of the circle, drawing with a piece of chalk. The rest were looking on.

“When we’ve entered the astral plane before it’s been inside the cockpits of our Lions,” continued Allura.

“Haha cockpit,” muttered Lance.

“Are you twelve?” asked Keith.

“When we merge our quintessence with the Lions,” said Allura, “we’re able to use them as a conduit to transport our spirits to the astral plane.”

“Then shouldn’t we be inside the Lions?” asked Keith.

“But there’s no Lion for Shiro and he doesn’t believe he can connect with the Black Lion anymore in order to use it to enter the astral plane,” explained Allura. “However, we have managed to access our Lions powers from outside them before in ways we never before imagined. If we wish to carry Shiro with us as a passenger to the astral plane, I believe this is the best position.”

“Alright, let’s get this bibbidi bobbidi booing rolling,” said Lance, going to sit down inside the circle of candles.

“Shiro?” asked Keith. Shiro had been oddly stoic. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. We can go inside. Forget this night ever happened.”

Shiro looked at Keith. Something about his wording seemed off and his concern for Keith was nagging at him. “Do you not want to?”

“I want what you want,” said Keith, vaguely.

Shiro stepped into the circle. What’s the worst that could happen? This didn’t work and they all went to bed disappointed?

Shiro sat down and Keith sat next to him. He noticed Keith was wearing his red jacket again though it did look snug on him now. “Your jacket,” commented Shiro.

“It’s cold,” said Keith, simply, knowing full well that’s not what Shiro was surprised about.

Lance slid over so he was sitting right next to Keith. “I’m the jacket hero,” said Lance, giving Shiro a nod. Shiro looked at Lance with his usual confused look.

Allura sat down beside Shiro as Pidge and Hunk took spots near her to complete the circle.

“Um, Pidge,” said Allura, looking down at the pavement. “What’s this you’ve drawn here?”

“A pentagram,” said Pidge with a wicked smile. “I figured ‘cause it’s all hocus pocus anyway, we might as well go full on The Craft.”

“I don’t know what that means, but please erase it,” said Allura.

Pidge groaned.

“Nice try, Sabrina,” said Lance.

Pidge smudged out the pentagram with her sleeve then slumped back down beside Lance. “Alright. Let’s get this the quiznak over with.”

Everyone gasped.

“Pidge!” cried Lance. “Language!”

“What?! Everyone else gets to say it!”

“It’s different when you say it,” said Hunk. “You’re all… pure.”

“That’s it!” cried Pidge, standing up. “Thems fightin’ words!” And with that she jumped on her friend.

“Whoa you two! Get a room already,” sassed Lance.

“You should talk,” argued Hunk, holding Pidge back from him with his longer arms as she tried in vain to scratch him. “When I walked into your room earlier, Keith had you on the floor.”

Shiro snapped his neck around to look at Keith. Allura did the same with Lance.

Keith gritted his teeth, his blush thankfully invisible in the candlelight. “What he said was out of context.”

“What was the context again?” asked Lance, no longer covering for Keith. “And in response to your first comment, Hunk, we already had a room. So there.”

“Let’s just get started, shall we?” asked Allura. Her neck had shrunk into non-existence as her shoulders raised to meet her ears.

“Not until you fight me!” yelled Pidge, still trying to get at Hunk.

“Her will is big, but she so smol,” cooed Hunk.

“Just hex him, Sabrina!” cheered Lance.

“Paladins!” shouted Allura.

Everyone froze then their gaze shifted to Shiro. “Daaaaaad, mom yelled at us,” said Pidge, now snickering.

“Please don’t call Allura mom,” said Lance, weakly.

“Let’s just all settle down and listen to mom,” began Shiro, “I mean Allura!”

“Man, everyone’s acting weird,” said Hunk. “Is everyone acting weird? It’s like there’s magic in the air. Is it working already? Are we spell casting?”

“We haven’t done anything yet besides light scented candles and doodle on the ground,” snapped Keith.

“Well, I’m sorry if the local mall got leveled by the invasion and I had to make do with what candles I could scrounge from the Garrison peeps,” said Hunk, crossing his arms.

“I like it,” said Lance. “All the different kinds make it smell like a fruit salad. Kinda romantic.”

“It is a bit,” said Allura, looking at Lance. Was she blushing? In this light, Lance couldn’t tell.nmLance’s eyebrow turned up and he gave her a weak smile. Pidge and Hunk’s gaze shifted towards each other. Shiro resisted the urge to look at Keith. Keith looked at the ground and willed the candles to catch on his clothes and engulf him in flames. 

“Shiro, are you prepared to start?” asked Allura, getting back on track.

Shiro took a deep breath. “Let’s do this.”

“Everyone, hold hands,” said Allura.

Hunk held out his hand to Pidge. She rolled her eyes and took it then took Lance’s hand. 

“After this, can we play light as a feather, stiff as a board?”

“Shut up, Lance,” muttered Keith, grabbing his hand gruffly.

“Looks like someone’s already stiff as a board,” sassed Lance, wiggling his eyebrows at Keith.

“Do you ever like… hear yourself out loud?” asked Hunk.

“As much as the rest of you do,” said Lance, confused.

“I really don’t think you hear you…”

“Silence,” stressed Allura, “at this point would be crucial.”

“Anyone got a gag for Lance?” asked Keith.

“Now who’s not hearing himself,” said Lance, eyebrows wiggling all nimbly whimbly.

“Seriously though,” chuckled Hunk. “It’s like everyone’s drunk on nunvil.”

“Silence,” repeated Allura, this time sounding almost guttural in its passive aggressiveness. This time they all complied. “Alright, now everyone close their eyes and connect with their Lions, but keep Shiro in your thoughts as well.”

Keith closed his eyes, his mind syncing with Black instantaneously. Behind him Blacks eyes began to glow. One by one the eyes of the other Lions lit up as their Paladins connected psychically.

“Now,” said Allura, open your minds up further. “Allow your consciousness to float outside of yourself while keeping a string of thought tethered to Shiro.”

Pidge took deep breaths, pushing out thoughts of science and facts. Despite her skepticism she was the first to let go and feel her spirit float up towards the sky. She imagined a black string tied to her hand and running towards Shiro chest, to his heart. Somehow with her eyes closed she could see strings from the others leading to the same place, to Shiro. But then –

Everyone let out a gasp. Something felt wrong. Their consciousness’s slammed back down into their bodies.

“What happened?” asked Pidge, she opened her eyes and started when she found she was literally beside herself. Her quintessence was on the outside, but her physical body was sitting still, meditating. “Let me rephrase that, what went wrong?”

Before anyone could answer,r a disembodied voice spoke to them. “This is not your usual gate, Paladins.”

“I know that voice,” gasped Allura. “It’s the Life Givers from Oriond.”

“We are more than that, Royal child,” replied the voice that was somehow one and many at the same time. “We are the white lion, the lion goddess, the Goddess of the Universe.”

“Neat,” said Hunk. “So, uh, why you talkin’ to us?”

“Goddess,” said Allura, “We seek passage to the astral plane.”

“There is a path for the Paladins to take,” the Goddess responded. “This is not it.”

“We wish to bring a passenger,” explained Allura. “We can’t do this through the Lions.”

“The Paladin of black has changed to white,” the voice responded. “The path is now closed for him.”

“But he received a message calling him,” argued Allure. “Through a dream.”

“That is not our realm.”

“Can you please help us take him to the astral plane through this gate? We wouldn’t ask such of a Goddess if we did not feel it was important.”

“Very well. We shall help, but first a warning. This gate to the astral plane is not secure. There are dangers to walking a path that is not yours. Only the pure of heart may enter.”

“Welp… I’m out,” said Lance, standing up still in his spirit form. He was going to bail without remembering to get back in his body.

“Sit down, son of Blue,” ordered the Goddess. “You must not ignore the calling of a quest.”

“Can’t a quest text me instead?” groaned Lance.

“All must go, so all may return. All must return, so all may return.”

“You’re repeating yourself,” mumbled Lance.

“No, it’s a riddle!” said Hunk, excitedly.

“Yay,” groaned Pidge. “Mystic riddles.”

“Stay on one path. Do not wander. Open your hearts. Honesty must not be squandered. If the way is lost, look to the stars. With truth as your guild, home is never far.”

“This is worse than Lotor’s poetry,” complained Lance.

“Pay attention, son of Blue. You blind yourself to happiness by looking for a joke instead of an answer.”

“Well, that part didn’t rhyme so I can’t take it seriously.”

“Lance…” warned Shiro. 

“Is this what you want, man of white?” asked the Goddess. “There is doubt in you.”

“When I was a Paladin, the right thing to do always seemed so obvious,” confessed Shiro. “But now I don’t know. I seem to only be able to make decisions if what I choose protects someone I care about.”

“Your honesty serves you well. What do you wish?”

“I wish to try,” said Shiro. “Indecision can feel as cold as death.” While in limbo, there were no choices to make. “I’d rather be wrong than frozen.”

“Very well. Royal child, the power is yours to go through the gate. Guide your flock. Keep them safe.”

The presence of the Goddess left like humidity blown away by a cold wind.

“Open up again, Paladins,” said Allura. “Keep your tie to Shiro and let us guide him on his journey.”

Together, six souls rose up and left their physical forms on the ground, guarded by ancient beings of metal and magic. The Lions let out a mighty roar that pushed their dear Paladins higher into the starry sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	4. A Shiro's Journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Paladins start out on their journey towards the Astral Plane, passing through a mystery realm. Space dad doesn't want to stop and ask for directions. The kids get restless. Lance sings a road trip song!

Chapter 4 – A Shiro's journey

It was clear immediately that taking another path to the astral plane really was different from using the Lions as a conduit. The times they’d visited it before the Lions had basically worked like a teleporter from Star Trek. Materializing them in the astral plane mere ticks after they’d left their bodies. 

This time their consciouness’s were rising higher and higher into the sky until the Earth was just a memory and all that surrounded them were points of light. Pidge knew the star maps pretty well from memory, but of course these constellations made no sense. Why would they?

“Are we there yet?” groaned Lance like a kid on a car trip.

“Lance,” warned Shiro.

“What? I see a whole lot of astral, but no plane in sight. Should we pull over and ask for directions?”

“Just shut up and keep floating,” said Keith.

“Typical man,” sighed Lance. “Doesn’t want to ask for directions.”

“Okay, I’m with Lance on this one,” said Pidge. “How much longer?”

“Does time even exist as a concept anymore?” asked Hunk. “You know, asking for a friend.”

“Time is part of the physical realm,” said Allura.

“So that’s a no?” deadpanned Pidge. “Because I was hoping this would be one of those adventures where we’re home in time to watch Daily Show.”

“Civilization collapsed,” said Lance. “Pretty sure Daily Show was cancelled… Creating a vacuum of celebrities and content… Guys, should I become a teen idol?”

“Guys!” snapped Keith. “You’re being disrespectful. How many times do I have to remind you we’re doing this for Shiro? It takes how long it takes.”

“And I accept that,” said Lance. “And we’re not trying to disrespect Shiro, but you have to know that if you take Pidge, Hunk, and I anywhere, a certain amount of comedy is expected. Sass and Plunk are a package deal.”

“Plunk?” repeated Pidge.

“Yeah…,” stuttered Lance, embarrassed. “I inserted myself in your celebrity friendship name. Thought we could be a trio.”

“Once again, Lance. Please listen to yourself.”

“Look, it’s okay,” said Shiro. “I appreciate you protecting me, Keith, but Lance is just being Lance. I’m glad you’ve all come along.” Was he though? This experience was meant to be personal, but on the other hand Shiro might not have the nerve without the others along.

“Aw thanks, Dad,” said Lance. “Can we turn the radio on?”

“Don’t test me, Lance,” warned Shiro.

Suddenly the floating up (or down or to the side if directions even existed anymore) slowed to a stop.

“Are we here?” asked Hunk.

“No,” answered Allura. “I am afraid I’m not sure where we’re going. At first I felt it, but I’ve lost it now.”

“So we’re trapped between planes of existence?” asked Pidge. “Great.”

“Séances are not fun,” complained Hunk, but then… “Hey wait! The Goddess said all those mystic riddles. Maybe there are clues contained within.”

“Or we could follow the red and blue stars,” said Shiro, surging upwards. The metaphysical strings connected to the Paladins went tight and tugged them up too.

“What red and blue stars?” demanded Lance.

“Those two there,” said Allura, pulling ahead to match Shiro’s speed.

“Can someone point them out?” asked Lance. “I know we don’t actually have hands, but…”

“The two we’re heading towards, Lance,” snapped Keith.

“Oh,” said Lance, finally seeing the bright points of blue and red light. “Why are those the landmark?”

“Because you can see them on the astral plane,” explained Pidge.

“What? Since when?”

“Since before the concept of time existed I’m guessing,” said Pidge and you could just hear the shrug in her voice.

“I didn’t see those when we travelled to the astral plane on Olkarion,” said Lance.

“I saw them,” said Hunk.

“Me too,” said Allura.

“Trust me, Lance,” said Shiro. “I have the astral plane memorized. Those two stars have always been there.”

“Keith?” asked Lance.

“I dunno,” said Keith. “I only visited the astral plane to visit Shiro’s spirit. I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings.” He really hadn’t noticed them yet the red and blue seemed familiar. Seeing that it was his and Lance’s colours made Keith unsettled. He didn’t want that fact acknowleged.

“Blue and red,” said Lance, his voice getting that flirty tone. “Looks like you are I are stars, Keith.”

And there it was, acknowledged. “They’re just colours, Lance.”

“Right. And you’re afraid of colours.”

“Lance, stop teasing Keith,” warned Shiro.

“But what else is there to do?” whined Lance.

“Focus please,” said Allura. “This is not as easy as I thought I thought it would be.”

“If only an omnipotent being had warned us it would be difficult,” said Pidge. “Oh wait…”

“If we could all focus specifically on the astral plane -,” began Allura.

“Hey, do you think this path might branch to other realms?” asked Hunk.

“Other realms?” asked Lance.

“Yeah, if you were paying attention there’s a few. There’s the physical realm where we left our bodies, the astral plane/limbo which is our goal, but there’s also the After which is Altean heaven maybe? Then there’s also the dream realm. But there could be others. What about a hell realm? What if we go there by accident? What if I start screaming uncontrollably? IT’S TOO LATE I’M ALREADY SCREAMING!!”

“Hunk!” yelled Pidge. “You’re not in hell!”

“Just me then,” muttered Keith.

“Girl, you I must’ve left my physical body behind because you are heaven,” cooed Lance.

“Are you saying that to me?” asked Allura.

“I think I said it in general,” said Lance, but then he shifted his voice back to flirty. “But feel free to take it personal. Reeeeeal personal.”

“Boo. Get a room,” said Pidge.

“This again?” groaned Keith. Damn. He’d meant to say that in his head. And maybe he did. Without actual mouths it was hard to distinguish between inside thoughts and outside thoughts.

“Don’t be jealous, Keith,” said Lance. “My room will always be our special place.”

“Whoa,” said Hunk. “Did he just…? Is this happening?”

“Wait, no, wait,” said Lance. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud. I mean I thought it and then I thought, ‘no, that’s too much,’ but then somehow I said it anyway. Is anyone else having trouble keeping thoughts to themselves. It’s like I have no filter.”

“I’m confused,” said Hunk. “Are you telling me you normally filter your thoughts? That’s scary.”

“The Goddess said something about honesty not being squandered,” said Allura. Was it Lance’s imagination or did the Princess sound hurt? No, that couldn’t be right. What he’d said about Keith in his room was a joke and anyway Allura probably didn’t really like him. Right…?

“What does that mean? Honesty not being squandered? ” asked Keith.

“I’m not sure, but I feel something up ahead. Hopefully we’re almost there.”

The red and blue stars didn’t seem any closer, but of course that’s not how stars work anyway. All of a sudden, something shifted. Their momentum slowed and there was a sensation of passing through a doorway with a light resistance, like walking through a beaded curtain. Then there just wasn’t enough air.

“Where are we?” asked Hunk, panicked, “I don’t like this.”

The Paladins had form again, even if not completely opaque. It was strange to breathe. Not actually difficult, but the sensation was like someone opened up the airlock in space and the air was rapidly moving out and suddenly breathing felt desperate. There was ground beneath and it felt solid. Above them there were stars with the red and blue ahead on the horizon, but around them was not the vast openness of the astral plane. Surrounding them were gray silhouettes, humanoid like. They were see-through but were so large in number that you’d look through them and only see gray as far as the eye could see. And they were moving. Rambling around each other and producing a low mumbling noise like a thousand people quietly talking under their breath.

“This… Isn’t right,” said Allura. 

“Ya, think?!”

“Lance,” warned Shiro.

“Sorry.”

“Where are we?”

“I’m not sure,” said Allura. “I think the astral plane must still be ahead of us if we use the red and blue stars as a guide, but I cannot… No, I cannot float my consciousness anymore. I’ve been grounded by the perception of a physical place.”

“Again in English?” asked Lance.

“Our brains think we’re walking on the ground so we can’t project our consciousness further,” explained Pidge. “We’re back to following reality rules of movement.”

“Can you dumb that down a smidge more?” asked Lance.

“Floaty powers gone. Now we walk,” said Keith.

“Thank you!” said Lance. “You have a real gift for clarity Keith. You use few words, but I like the ones who chose.”

“Um. Thanks,” said Keith still feeling like he was somehow being mocked.

“Should we start moving?” asked Shiro. Looking at the gray figures around him made his gut clench. Without knowing how he knew, he recognized them as a glimpse of dead. They weren’t really here with them, but somehow this realm was a window into the After.

“Yes, let’s,” said Allura. “Please stay close to each other. Remember to hold your tether to Shiro in your mind. It’ll help keep us all together if we use him as an anchor.”

Allura started to walk forward, luckily the gray figures moved to created a path for her. Shiro followed close behind. Each Paladin felt an invisible string tied to their wrist tug as he went forward. They followed in a line.

“The Paladins went marching one by one, hurrah hurrah,” sang Lance, under his breath.

“Lance, can you not?” asked Keith.

“Sorry, no filter,” said Lance, switching to his normal volume. “The Paladins go marching one by one –”

“Hurrah! Hurrah!” sang Pidge and Hunk, joining in.

“The Paladins went marching one by one,” continued Lance. “So Shiro can reclaim his love and they all go marching down… underground… looking for… astral plane bumbumbum!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	5. Paladins go marching two by two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance starts to wonder what exactly this in-between realm is and Keith can't follow the one instruction the Goddess gave: Stay on the path!

Chapter 5 – Paladins go marching two by two

“The Paladins went marching six by six hurrah hurrah,” sang Lance. This had been going on for a few minutes now and even his backup singers had grown bored and dropped out.

“Will someone shut him up already?” asked Keith.

“The Paladins went marching six by six. Keith wants me to quit, doesn’t appreciate my wit and they all go marching down…underground…looking for… astral plane bumbumbum…”

“Did you know that if you die in this realm, your body dies too?” threatened Keith.

“I do now,” said Lance. “But my song’s done anyway. There’s only six of us soooo”

“So maybe I make it five if you start –”

“If I start what?” asked Lance as Keith had cut himself off mid-thought. Then Lance noticed the freaked out look on Keith’s face as he looked out into the mob of gray figures swarming near them. “Dude, don’t leave me hanging.”

Keith still was looking out into the figures and his pace was slowing, causing Lance to slow too as he was behind him. Instinctively, Lance reached out to grab Keith’s arm. “Snap out of it, man,” he said.

On contact Keith flinched so hard, Lance immediately withdrew his hand, blushing for a reason he couldn’t figure out. “You okay?” asked Lance.

“Fine,” said Keith who started moving quicker to catch up to Pidge and Hunk. The string tied to his wrist had started to tug as he’d let out all possible slack when he’d drifted back from Shiro. Now he was catching up, with Lance following.

Lance was confused enough by Keith’s odd behaviour that he’d actually stopped talking. That wasn’t good for Lance. He didn’t like the strange feeling of dread he was getting from whatever this in-between realm was. And wasn’t the astral plane supposed to be the realm in-between the physical world and the afterlife? So what is in-between the in-between?

“Anyone else feel cold to their very core?” asked Hunk, managing to describe exactly what Lance was feeling. “Also that joy is an illusion and love is a lie?”

“You’ve been listening to too much emo music,” said Keith.

“Well, you would know…,” said Hunk. “Kinda your genre.”

“You’re still making jokes so you’re fine. Let’s keep pressing on. Allura, how’s it looking up ahead?”

“I can’t tell what kind of progress we’re making,” said Allura. “This must lead to the astral plane. The Goddess wouldn’t send us on a hopeless journey.”

“I mean, why would a God mess with mortals?” asked Pidge. “It’s not like its happened in literature repeatedly or even the bible?”

“Oh phew,” said Lance.

“I was being sarcastic,” said Pidge. “It’s actually a really common trope.”

“Well, in my defense, your sarcastic voice sounds the same as your normal voice.”

“Because I’m never not sarcastic.”

“How are you doing, Shiro?” asked Allura, putting a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“I guess as good as I can be,” said Shiro, “walking through the underworld, trying to reach the astral plane so I can hear a message from my dead ex-fiancé.”

“This isn’t the underworld,” said Lance, “It’s the in-between the in-between.”

“You called it the underworld,” said Keith.

“No, I didn’t…”

“And we all go marching down, underground,” sang Keith. “… remember?”

“You have a beautiful singing voice, Keith. However, we went up into space, not down. That was just a song.”

“There’s no up or down in space.”

“There’s also no ground to go under.”

Shiro was getting sick of the arguing, he was about to step in when he felt a weird pain in his human hand. He looked down at it to see it flicker like static on an old tv screen. That wasn’t encouraging.

Allura seemed to have seen it because she immediately said, “Remember we need to focus on Shiro and the task at hand. Not wasting time on pointless arguments.”

“But picking on Keith is how I pass the time,” complained Lance.

“Lance,” muttered Keith. It was difficult sometimes to get Lance’s attention so much and not have it be the attention he wanted from him.

“Do you know what you’ll say to Adam?” asked Allura.

Shiro looked at her, a bit startled.

“I suppose that’s personal,” said Allura, quietly.

“I’m still trying to work it out in my head,” said Shiro. There had been a lot of times in space where he’d composed exactly what he wanted to say to Adam when he saw him again…if he saw him again… Shiro’s memory hadn’t been the best ever since the Kerberos mission (at times because he was a clone which he oddly now remembered happening simultaneously with his memories of the astral plane,) but going through what he’d say to Adam, he could always bring that to memory. The only problem was now that his speech was meant for Adam when he was alive. What can you say to the ghost of the person you hurt the most?

“Keith, are you alright?” asked Lance with real concern.

Keith was looking out into the gray again and this time he’d fully stopped and he was just staring, staring at something Lance couldn’t see, but he knew he felt scared for him.

Keith hadn’t been sure the first time he’d seen it, but now he saw it clearly. He saw the face in the crowd of so many that had none. And when he knew for sure, he couldn’t help it. He surged towards it.

“Keith, no!” yelled Lance.

Keith hadn’t known they’d been following a set path, but he knew the moment he left it. His foot dropped into nothing just like when you’re climbing steps in the dark and you think there’s another, but instead you drop and you’re suddenly griped with the fear of falling. Except he did fall. The gray figures evaporated like mist around him and he tumbled down.

“Keith!” called Lance’s voice behind him.

A black string on his wrist snapped under the pressure of stretching it too far and then his tether to Shiro was gone. Keith couldn’t bring himself to care about what he’d just left behind because he’d seen it. He’d seen *him* walking among those gray figures and he had to find him.

First it was air he fell through, then his feet caught on the side of a cliff and he was slipping, sliding down the side until he fell hard on the rocky bottom. 

“Keith,” said Lance’s voice somehow still close to him.

And then there were arms pulling him up. Keith looked up into Lance’s freaked out face. “We were supposed to stick together. We weren’t supposed to leave the others. Now look,” said Lance showing his own broken string tied around his wrist. “That can’t be good.”

Keith shoved Lance back from him. “Then go back to them,” he said, getting up the rest of the way up and starting to walk.

“I don’t know how to do that,” said Lance. He looked back at the cliff they’d slid down, but it was already evaporating back into nothing. “And I wouldn’t leave you alone anyway.”

Keith ignored Lance and kept walking forward. They weren’t in a sea of those gray figures anymore, but he was catching glimpses of individual forms here and there. *He* had to be this way. Keith could feel it in his gut.

“Where are you going?” asked Lance. “Does it have something to do with what scared you there?

Keith felt too frustrated to explain himself to Lance.

“Like I need to know the reason why we’re possibly stranding our consciousness’s for all eternity in the underworld? Like I was pretty keen to go back to existing in a physical body, but I’d give that up for a good enough reason. So what do you say? What is it?”

“Go away, Lance,” grumbled Keith.

“Not gonna happen. Tell me what we’re doing here ‘cause otherwise I will just spend an eternity asking you the same question over and over. Or I’ll start singing again. Would you like that?”

Keith spun back on Lance and yelled, “I saw my dad!”

“What?” asked Lance, stunned.

“Among those gray figures,” said Keith, steadying his voice. “I saw my dad with them and I’m going to go find him.”

Lance was quiet for a moment then he said, “Okay cool. I’m in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	6. Hitchin' a Ride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Punk attempts to rescue Team Klance, but ends up stranded in space... again...

Chapter 6 – Hitchin’ a Ride

“Keith! Lance!” cried Pidge as she watched them dart off the path and… disappear? “Wait!” It was instinct - her dum-dum Pala-bros were in danger - She lunged after them.

“Pidge!” cried Hunk. He’d seen Keith and Lance run off and instantly blink out of existence and honestly, he did no want to deal with that. Then Pidge had to be brave and go after them and he couldn’t let his bestie cease to exist. He reached out to her, intending to grab her and stop her, but instead he got pulled along with her!

Snap! Snap! Their strings broke.

“No!” cried Hunk as his feet left ground and he began to tumble downwards. How was there no ground suddenly?

“Hunk, fire your jet pack!” yelled Pidge as they fell.

“I’m not wearing my paladin suit!”

“Just do it!”

“Ahhhhh!” screamed Hunk, but suddenly he realized he wasn’t falling, he was shooting up with the power of his jet pack and he was wearing his paladin suit? “But I was in my jammies, how is this possible?”

“We’re not physically here,” said Pidge. “So it doesn’t matter what our bodies are wearing. Here we wear whatever we believe we’re wearing. It’s like a lucid dream. Once you know it’s possible to control it, you can.”

“Nope, I don’t understand,” said Hunk, turning to follow Pidge who had now set a course for them. “I’ll just tell myself it’s magic. Hey, where are you leading us?”

“Trying to find our landmark,” said Pidge, rising higher. Everything was just sky again. No grey figures, no red and blue stars. “The constellations have changed again because OF COURSE they did. Do you see the red and blue stars? Am I missing them?”

Hunk flipped all around in every direction, but couldn’t find the points of red and blue. “I can’t see them either. And I’m starting to get PTSD flashbacks from the time we were caught in deep space without our Lions.”

“’Kay well you stayed the calmest of all of us there so I’m going to interpret that as you being fine.”

“Well, I’m never fine… Which actually works really well as a coping mechanism. Hey, where are you going?”

Pidge had changed her course. “I see something this way.”

“The red and blue stars?” asked Hunk, speeding up to meet her.

“No, a floating platform.”

“Okay,” said Hunk, dropping back. “And why do we want to go to the platform?”

“It’s a spot to orient ourselves in a sea of indistinct starlight.”

“Know what would be really great to spot? A food truck,” said Hunk, daydreaming. How come even without a body, he could still feel his tummy rumble?

Pidge pushed on and it seemed her willingness to reach the platform sooner brought her there almost instantly. “Hunk…” she began, taking in her new surroundings.

“Whoa!” said Hunk as they touched down on the floating platform together. “No…way…”

The platform wasn’t large, 20x20 feet, and it was bare except for one thing. Parked on the opposite side was a food truck.

“I do believe this is your manifestation,” said Pidge, sarcastically.

“I manifested a miracle!” gasped Hunk. “I wonder what time it opens,” he said, noticing the metal curtain was rolled down over the order window.

“Considering time isn’t a concept here…,” mumbled Pidge.

Hunk had already skipped up to the window and was pounding on the metal curtain. “You opening soon?” he called out. “Hungry customers out here!”

“Hello,” said a voice from behind Pidge.

She jumped and turned around to see a small, translucent Altean girl standing directly behind her.

“Ah! Creepy ghost child!” shrieked Hunk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	7. Won't Let You Slip Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura's lost her flock. Shiro almost dies (because of course!) The two of them share a platonic bonding moment. Space co-parents for the win!

Chapter 7 – Won’t let you slip away

“Pidge! Hunk!” cried Allura as she watched them lunge towards the gray figures and suddenly disappear. Keith and Lance were gone too. When did that happen? She’d specifically been told by the Goddess to keep her flock together. How had Allura failed so quickly? Allura was about to dive after Hunk when she heard Shiro cry out. 

“Ahh!” Allura spun back to Shiro to see him down on his knees. Worse than that, he was flickering, his whole being threatening to disintegrate into nothingness.

“Shiro!” cried, Allura, dropping to her knees beside him. On the ground below him, leading down from his chest she saw the four broken strings that, until moments ago, had been tethered to the other Paladins. Now the string around her wrist was the only one left that led to his heart. He needed all five of them to carry him as a passenger to the astral plane and four of them had broken the connection.

Shiro gave out another cry of pain and Allura wrapped her arms around him. “It’s okay, Shiro. Stay with me.”

“I can’t,” gasped Shiro. She could feel his body in her arms jolting in and out of existence. “I wasn’t meant to come here.”

“Yes, you are,” Allura said firmly. “Don’t doubt that. It’ll make you disappear.”

“If I go like this… Do I go back to my body or does my quintessence disperse into this realm?”

Allura couldn’t answer. She was willing to lie if it helped, but she didn’t know which answer would encourage Shiro to keep fighting.

Shiro shook his head. “I had a good run,” said Shiro. His body wasn’t jolting in and out of existence anymore. Now it looked like he was flaking away, like he was giving up voluntarily.

“Shiro, no!” said Allura, trying to make it sound like an order, but she was beginning to tear up.

“It was an honour fighting by your side, Princess,” said Shiro, which sounded like he was saying goodbye. “You changed my life.”

“And you mine,” said Allura, the tears now flowing, but then something snapped inside her. Her fingers gripped his side, tightly. “Don’t you dare give up now! You’ve cheated death more times than I can count.”

“Can’t cheat death forever,” said Shiro.

“Now, you listen to me, Shirogane,” said Allura, her birthy-given authority entering her voice. “You survived a degenerative muscle disease, Zarkon’s gladiator ring, being cloned a thousand times, literally dying, and having your conscious stored in the black lion. And if that weren’t enough you, flatlined when your clone body tried to reject your consciousness then flatlined a second time when your body tried to reject your new robotic arm and yet here you are!”

“I think… I was meant to die.”

“You were meant to live, Shiro! No one knows this better than me. I had your consciousness inside me when I pulled it from the Black Lion. I gave you the crystal from my own diadem to stabilize the power supply to your new arm. I have literally and figuratively invested myself in you not dying! Do not take my gifts in vain.” Allura pulled Shiro up properly so she could look him in the eye when she said this next part. “You are my friend Shiro and more than that you are my equal. When I was piloting the castleship, you lead Voltron. When I was helping pilot Voltron, you were running the castleship. And when the castleship was lost, you became the captain of the Atlas and you used the Altean powers I gave you to turn the Atlas into a Voltron-like mecca. Every task I give you, every goal I set for you, you exceed it.”

“Even when I was a clone.”

“Especially when you were a clone.”

Shiro laughed.

“No, I didn’t mean that. I don’t know why I said it.”

“It was funny,” said Shiro, he’d stopped flaking, but he wasn’t whole.

“You and I have more to accomplish. Including raising four hapless Paladins. If you go now, I’ll be losing part of myself. I love you as my partner, Shiro.”

“Princess,” said Shiro. “I didn’t know you felt this way.”

“Stay,” begged Allura. “Keep fighting beside me. We haven’t vanquished all evil from the universe yet. You still have that purpose.” Allura felt the change before she saw it. Shiro became whole in her arms again while the pieces that had been lost faded back into place.

“Thank the goddess,” said Allura, hugging Shiro.

“Thank you for saying all that,” said Shiro, returning the hug. “I needed to hear it.”

Allura got to her feet and helped Shiro up. “Just to be clear though,” said Shiro, suddenly embarrassed. “You didn’t mean you love me romantically, right?”

Allura blushed. “No, Shiro. There are many forms of love and honestly… I have feelings for someone else. I hope that doesn’t disappoint you.”

“No, no, I mean. I thought you’d figured out I was gay based on what we’re heading to the astral plane for.”

“Sorry, you’re what?” asked Allura.

“Gay,” repeated Shiro.

“I don’t know that word. I don’t think we have an Altean equivalent. What does it mean?”

“I am a man who loves other men.”

“Oh,” said Allura, but she looked confused. “You have a specific word for that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	8. Dad vs Daddy Issues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith both does and doesn't want to hold Lance's hand

Chapter 8 – Dad vs Daddy Issues

“What do you mean, you’re in?” asked Keith. “You can’t just ‘be in’ to look for my dead dad with me. This is serious, Lance.”

“This is serious, Lance,” repeated Lance in a mocking voice then in his regular voice said, “I can be serious, Keith.”

“No you can’t. You failed at being serious even before saying you could be serious. You pre-failed.”

“Whatever. I had to get it out of my system. I’m all good now.” Then he deepened his voice. “Serious Lance.”

Keith shook his head, like nope! “I don’t have time for this, Lance,” said Keith, turning away.

“You never have time for me,” Lance muttered under his breath.

“I don’t have time for this, Lance,” repeated Keith’s voice, which confused Lance especially since the voice had come from beside him, not in front of him.

Lance looked to his left and felt like he was going crazy. Two of the gray figures looked eerily like him and Keith. The Lance figure had his arms stretched wide as the Keith figure brushed past him.

Lance blinked and they were just indistinct figures again.

“Uh, Keith?” whimpered Lance. He looked back at Keith and saw he was already a good twenty feet away from him. Lance jogged to catch up. “Either my mind’s playing tricks on me or this place is freakier than we thought.”

“It’s likely both,” said Keith.

“We should probably hold hands in case one of us gets scared or tries to wander off or something.” Lance reached for Keith’s hand, but as soon as he made contact, Keith slapped his hand away.

“Cut it out, Lance,” snapped Keith.

Lance could see the colour in Keith’s cheeks. He must’ve really pissed the guy off. Keith always seemed angry when Lance flirted with him. Wait! Don’t get the wrong idea! Lance flirts with everyone. Lance’s charm was his gift to the entire universe, not just to the ladies. Wait… Was Keith homophobic? No, that couldn’t be it. He was so close with Shiro… Wait… *How* close was Keith with Shiro? Keith wasn’t gay… Right? Lance felt like he would be able to tell if Keith were gay. He could tell that Shiro was gay. You know, after Hunk had told him Shiro had a boyfriend.

So if it wasn’t homophobia why’d Keith react like that? Maybe Keith just didn’t like to be touched? It would explain why when Keith arrived home after so long with the Blade he walked past Lance without even hugging him. Leaving Lance with his arms outstretched like an idiot. But then… Keith had touched Lance when they’d bond – er ah, no, never mind. He almost remembered something he definitely did not remember. Okay, but then what about earlier in his room? Right before Keith shoved him down he’d place his hands on Lance’s chest. What was that for? Was that bonding? Did Keith only touch to bond? Was that a Galra thing? It felt a little like bonding, but maybe deeper than that… Like…

“Will you wipe that goofy look off your face?” asked Keith, invading into Lance’s thoughts like a battering ram. “I can tell when you’re daydreaming about girls. If you’re insisting on being here at least help me look for my dad. These grey figures keep looking like real people and then fading back to faceless.”

“Sorry,” sputtered Lance, blushing harder than the situation deserved. Why should he be so embarrassed for thinking about Keith? Unless…No, Lance! Stay on task! “Okay, looking for your daddy!”

“Dad,” Keith corrected.

“Dad,” Lance repeated, swinging his head back and forth wildly, on the hunt for whenever one of these gray figures dared to show a familiar face. Wait… “Okay, so it’s occurring to me suddenly that I have no clue what your dad looks like. I mean I’d just age you up, but having seen your mom, I’m pretty sure you don’t look much like your dad.”

Keith just sighed. “I’m not purple, Lance.”

“Okay, but if ‘not purple’ is all I have to go on for what your dad should look like and these figures look gray even when they do have faces…”

“He was tall,” added Keith.

“Wow,” said Lance. “Master of description right here. Did he also have feet and breathe air? I want to narrow it down some more. Flip more card down in my mental Guess Who game.”

Keith scowled. “He was muscular –”

“Thicc Keith daddy, got it.”

“Short black hair -”

“So the mullet came from mommy? Go on.”

“He had a scar through his right eyebrow.”

“Distinguishing marks. Now we’re getting somewhere. And I guess for race he was... Well, like you.”

“He wasn’t Galran, Lance.”

“No I mean like…,” Lance trailed off, gesturing towards Keith’s face. How to proceed here? “A…asian?”

“Korean,” said Keith, deadpan.

“Oh, that’s what you are,” said Lance. “By the way, I love your Barbeque and your boy bands. Have you ever listened to BTS?”

“You know, I think your talking is scaring away the ghosts.”

“Then I’ll talk quieter,” whispered Lance.

“Or not at all,” suggested Keith.

“Or not at…Heeeey.” Lance frowned. Keith so often told him to be quiet (when he wasn’t outright telling him to shut up.) But it wasn’t easy just being silent while near Keith and he wasn’t sure why that was.

Keith sighed “Will you be quiet if I let you hold my hand?” he asked, offering his hand out to Lance.

Lance looked at Keith’s open hand, reaching towards him and instantly forgot how to make thoughts or movement happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	9. Free Fallin'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A child-like entity wants to play pretend with Pidge and Hunk.

Chapter 9 – Free Fallin’

“Be gone evil spirit!” Hunk yelled at the translucent Altean child.

“Oh, hello there,” said Pidge, bending down to meet the child’s eyeline. “Who are you?” But when she looked into the kids silver eyes she saw something ancient and dark. Pidge stood up and said more seriously, “Alright Casper, who are you?”

“Pidge, don’t make it mad!” warned Hunk.

“I’m Bored,” said the child.

“That’s not a name,” said Pidge.

“Neither is Pidge, Knowledge-Seeker, but names only come about by using them.”

“Okay, Bored,” said Pidge. “What do you want?”

“She wants to eat our faces!” cried Hunk.

“I want to play pretend,” said Bored. “Do you like games?” She directed this at Hunk.

“Is it a Saw type of game or a game where I keep all my organs on the inside?”

Bored giggled. “You’re funny. Let’s play food truck!”

“Yes, let’s do do that,” said Hunk, switching gears.

Poof! Bored disappeared. But then the food truck’s metal curtain opened up and there was Bored in the order window.

“What do you want?” she asked Hunk.

“Uh…” Hunk looked at the menu on the side of the truck. “The menu’s all in Altean…”

“Pick something. What does your heart most desire?”

“A Burrito?”

“Order up!” bellowed Bored and produced a wrapped burrito from behind her back.

“Okay,” said Hunk giving it a sniff. He unwrapped it and stared at the pink tortilla. Different…

“Eat up,” said Bored.

Hunk took a bite and paused. “Hmm… I can’t be sure but…” Hunk took another few chews then said, “Yep. It’s made out of play doh.” Hunk spit it out on the ground.

Bored erupted in cackling laughter.

“I can’t believe I ate play doh!” cried Hunk. Pidge, am I poisoned? Am I gonna die?”

Pidge gave him her ‘I can’t believe I have to explain this look’ that’s usually reserved for Lance. “No, you will not die because 1. Play doh is non-toxic, everyone knows that, it says so right on the container, and 2… NONE OF THIS IS REAL!”

“It’s… not?” said Hunk, and as it he said it everything dissolved around him: the food truck, the “burrito,” the platform… “Oh no!” gasped Hunk, wiggling his feet and realizing there was nothing underneath them. “There’s no ground anymore. Don’t look down. If we look down, we’ll fall.”

“Hunk,” said Pidge, dead serious. “That is cartoon logic, not real life logic. The only reason you’d fall if you look down is because you’re expecting to fall. You have to remember that none of this is actually happening and we’re manifesting it with our thoughts.”

Bored sighed. “Well, it’s no fun when you figure that out.”

“I knew that coming in,” snapped Pidge. “Now Hunk, we gotta get a hold of this controlling-our-environment thing. On the count of three we’re going to look down and NOT fall. Got it?”

“Okay… okay…,” said Hunk, trying to calm himself down. “I just don’t like when the laws of physics don’t apply.”

“I get it Hunk. I’m the same way,” Pidge said, reassuringly.

“Will they fall…? Won’t they fall…?” Bored asked no one in particular as she floated by Pidge’s head. “That is the question.”

“One…two…three!”

They both looked down at once and… fell.

“Ahhhh!” screamed Hunk.

“I know why you’re falling, but why am I falling?” cried Pidge as they continued to free fall with no ground in sight below.

“I dunno,” sobbed Hunk. “I thought we’d both fall and now we’re falling. Am I god? I don’t wanna be god! I’ll be bad at it!”

“Hunk, if this is your doing, give us a soft landing!” yelled Pidge.

“How?”

“Think of something soft!”

And just as she finished yelling that, they smacked into something and then they bounced back up… and down… and up. Pidge tried to get to her feet, but couldn’t find her balance. Just then Bored bounced by saying, “Wheeeeeee!”

Pidge looked around and got her bearings. They were inside a giant bouncy castle. Well, that worked at least.

“This isn’t so bad!” said Hunk, jumping up and down. 

“Of course not,” said Pidge. “You created it.”

“Ohhhhh, she’s getting it,” whispered Bored, suddenly beside her.

Pidge didn’t hesitate. She reached for Bored’s throat, but Bored jumped back in a flash. Pidge was good at thinking on her feet, she was already running across the bouncy ground towards Bored. She went to tackle her, but landed on the bouncy castle floor, Bored having popped out of existence. Pidge turned, locating her prey again, she lunged. Bored disappeared again, this time a laugh echoing in the air.

“Hunk,” said Pidge. “I’m going to need you to envision me capturing Bored.”

“Uh,” said Hunk, calling the idea to his mind.

Next time Pidge lunged at the spirit, she pinned her to the ground. “Who are you?” she yelled. “Where are we?”

Poof! Bored disappeared and reappeared beside Hunk, making him jump.

“Hunk!” scolded Pidge.

“You said capture her, not hold her. Should we try again?”

“I wouldn’t bother,” said Bored, rising up into the air above them. “It’s not going to work. I can see in his head and he has so many doubts.” Bored pouted.

“Hey…,” said Hunk. “I mean… accurate, but like rude to tell people.”

“What do you want with us?” asked Pidge.

“Boring! I don’t want to ask questions. I want to play,” insisted Bored. “I want to have fun.”

“Excuse me if being toyed with by some mystery realm spirit isn’t fun for me,” said Pidge.

“I’m sorry,” said Bored. “I’m ruining our playdate. How can I make it better?”

“Answer my questions,” said Pidge.

Bored thought about this. “Okay.” Pidge brightened. “I’ll answer three.” Pidge frowned. “After you answer a riddle.”

“Who are you? Gollum?” Pidge rolled her eyes.

“Roses are red –”

“Oh, we’re starting?”

“Violets are blue –”

“No,” said Pidge, interrupting. “They’re purple. It’s in the name. Violet.”

Bored glared at her.

“Right… Sorry. Finish.”

“Roses are red, violets are blue, one of these things just isn’t true.”

“Violets aren’t blue,” deadpanned Pidge.

“It’s no fun if you solve it before I finish, Knowledge-Seeker.”

“Either way, I got it right. Now answer my three questions.”

“No, yes, and you have one more,” said Bored.

“What?”

“The answers to your first two questions. ‘Who are you? Gollum?’ the answer is no. ‘Oh, we’re starting?’ the answer is… was yes. Now you get one more.”

“Those don’t count!” argued Pidge.

“So you can’t think of a third?” asked Bored.

Pidge scowled. “Where are we?”

“In one of the realms between the physical and the astral plane,” answered Bored.

“Obviously. Which realm?” asked Pidge.

“Sorry. You’re out of questions.”

“You weren’t specific with your answer!” snapped Pidge.

“Your question wasn’t specific,” mocked Bored.

“Did you seriously want me to put the word ‘specific’ in my question?”

“Now you know for next time,” said Bored. “Let’s play a game. How about you?” said Bored, turning to Hunk who had been bouncing in place while they argued. “You want to play?”

“Um,” said Hunk. “Is there prizes if we win?”

“I like how you think, Builder,” said Bored with a wicked smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	10. A Human Label

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just get your kleenex ready.

Chapter 10 – A Human Label

“You have a specific word for that?” asked Allura.

“You mean for a man that loves men?”

“Yes. You have a term for it?”  
“Do you find that… strange?” asked Shiro.

“A bit,” said Allura, now downplaying her earlier surprise. “I think we are best to keep moving forward. I do not know what happened to the other paladins, but they can take care of themselves. After what just happened, I would like to get you to the astral plane sooner rather than later.

Shiro nodded his agreement and the two of them fell into step together. Indistinct grey figures to either side, a black string connected to his heart and tied to Allura’s wrist, and a set of colourful stars as their guidepost. Shiro wanted to focus on getting to Adam, but he couldn’t shake the odd exchange he’d just had with Allura.

“Were there no gay people on Altea?” asked Shiro. “I mean men like me, who love other men.”

Allura gave Shiro the side eye and laughed. “Of course we did. Could you imagine if we didn’t then what?”

“I guess then just men and women as couples.”

“You mean just breeding pairs?” asked Allura. “That would leave a lot of Alteans out of luck.”

“So you did have gay people?”

Allura seemed a bit frustrated. “You keep using that term, but for me it would be like labeling a male’s attraction to legs.”

“Leg man.”

“Or a mature female’s attraction to younger males.”

“Cougar.”

“Honestly,” scoffed Allura, “Do humans have labels for everything?”

“We might,” said Shiro. “Everything we’ve thought to label, but those last two were a joke. Being gay, however, is a big deal.”

“Why?” asked Allura.

“Because it differs from the norm.”

“Shiro,” said Allura. She stopped and grabbed hold of his wrist tight then looked him in the eye. “What are you doing? Calling yourself not normal?”

“No, I -,” began Shiro, but then he played back what he’d said in his head. He had said that. It’s amazing that after all these years, the internalized homophobia could still bite him in the ass. “You’re right. I said it completely wrong. I meant to explain that others don’t always see me and those like me as normal. I guess that’s why they gave it a label at all. To other our identities, to make us stand out.”

Allura suddenly looked so sad. Shiro wished he could take back what he’d said. “I’ve upset you?”

“Pardon me,” said Allura. “It’s just… everything I’ve learned of humans so far as been so wonderful. I mean, some of it has been horrifying like drinking the liquid that secretes from Kaltenecker’s bosom, but the rest of it… you and the paladins, the way the people of earth held off the Fire of Purification for over three deca-phoebs… humans are truly capable of incredible things so to learn humans can think of you, Shiro, as abnormal… It just near breaks my heart.”

Shiro saw the tears well up in Allura’s eyes as he felt them do the same in his own. It took an alien perspective to really drive home how ridiculous it was to be discriminated against over whom he loved.

“I’m sorry to shatter the illusion of human perfection,” said Shiro. He turned and started to walk. If he stayed still he risked collapsing into tears. “It’s getting better, slowly. Too slow. We only won the right to marry in my lifetime.”

“They wouldn’t let men form unions with other men?” asked Allura, the disappointment in her voice, deepening.

“Or women with women. I mean… there was a time before mine when they wouldn’t even let different races marry. There’s a lot to human history that’s shameful. But I guess we’re rebuilding from scratch now.”

“Was it hard growing up?” asked Allura. “Being perceived as different?”

“Yes,” said Shiro. “I mean for the longest time I didn’t even understand what I was. I wanted so badly to be normal. I denied my attraction to men for a long time. If it wasn’t for Adam, I might’ve still been in the closet to this day.”

“In the closet?” questioned Allura.

“What we call gay people who haven’t told anyone they’re gay.”

“So you’re expected to go out and tell people you have this preference?” asked Allura, still more surprised.

“Otherwise everyone assumes you’re straight… someone who prefers to be in a breeding pair,” said Shiro, correcting himself so Allura could understand.

“How did Adam help you?” asked Allura.

“I guess for however deep my denial was, Adam was the opposite. He was just out. I think he’d come out as soon as he could talk. His parents were very liberal and supported him. He got picked on in flight school for being gay, but he never let it shrink him. He was true to himself, always.

“We were assigned as flight partners. I didn’t like him much at first, but I think I was just uncomfortable because he was so open with something I felt so ashamed of. Eventually we became friends and then feelings developed. I couldn’t hide from who I was anymore, not if I wanted to be with him and I really wanted to be with him.

“When I told my parents I had a boyfriend, they were upset. Up until then they’d been so proud of me and my successes in my studies, but this was a huge blow for them. They kept telling me they wouldn’t accept my lifestyle choice.”

“Lifestyle choice?” gasped Allura. “They called your love a lifestyle choice?”

“It gets worse,” continued Shiro. “When we were adults, Adam and I moved in together. That’s when my parents stopped speaking to me.” Shiro was quiet for a moment. “I never heard from them again… I don’t know what happened to them during the war.”

Allura was still holding his wrist as they walked. From all he was confessing, she didn’t want to remove that source of comfort. “Your family abandoned you?”

“I gained a new one though. I had Adam’s parents. They loved Adam for who he was and because of this they brought me into their fold. I’ve been hoping to reconnect with them since I got back to Earth, but I haven’t located them.” Shiro sighed. He didn’t know if there was any hope in that or if they’d even want to hear from him. “I think that’s why when I met Keith, I wanted to become family to him. I know he lost his parents in a very different way than me, but I understood his loss on my own level.”

“He was so lucky to have found you. And it is amazing that you took the great pain of rejection from your parents and chose to turn that into something positive.”

“Thank you, Allura.” 

Shiro’s thoughts drifted as he remembered the time Keith came out to him. He had on some level been prepared for this, perhaps recognizing the same signs in Keith that had existed in him at that age. He’d been ready to say to Keith, “That’s great that you’re owning who you are” and to be the proudest big brother Keith could ever hope for, but when the moment came and the words, ‘Shiro, I think I’m gay…” tumbled out of Keith’s mouth Shiro didn’t cheer. He stopped himself because of the look of fear and devastation on Keith’s face, of the tears pouring down Keith’s cheeks, of the tremble in his voice. In that moment Shiro recalled the deep pain of feeling different and wishing you weren’t. Shiro had hugged Keith and they’d cried together, Shiro muttering promises to Keith that he was loved and things would get better.

Adam had come home early to see the scene of the two of them in shambles. Adam took it in and Shiro could tell that he understood what was happening without having to ask. Adam had walked up to Keith, gripped him on the shoulder and said, “I’m so proud of you, Keith.” Then he’d turned and walked right back out of their apartment. Adam returned twenty minutes later – by which time Shiro and Keith had both cried themselves into laughter – with each of their favourite ice cream flavours. The three of them had eaten ice cream directly out of the containers and watched The Birdcage. Shiro remembered thinking that he’d finally found the family he belonged with.

“Shiro, what is that?” asked Allura, cutting into his thoughts. “Is that… you? And Keith?”

Shiro looked to where Allura was pointing. Amongst the grey figures he saw it, three of them were no longer indistinct, but looked a lot like him and Keith, sitting on a couch beside…Adam.

“I was just… Remembering that,” mumbled Shiro, transfixed on the Adam impersonator that was already fading back to a blurry grey figure.

“What is this place?” asked Allura, suspicion in her voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	11. Getting around to getting to know you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance wants to know about Keith's past if he's willing to open up.

Chapter 11 – Getting around to getting to know you

Was there a word for when your mouth and your body did things of their own accord? Keith definitely had not thought of offering his hand to Lance. He had not thought the words, “Will you be quiet if I let you hold my hand?” before his ears heard him saying them… Possessed. Keith was possessed. Probably by a ghost or something.

Lance had frozen, just staring at Keith’s hand. Like, Lance could dish it out, but he couldn’t take it? Keith’s brain went into panic mode the moment he thought about Lance “taking” anything from him. Oh right! Hormones are thing.

Lance still hadn’t moved. Keith needed an excuse to withdraw his hand before Lance took him up on the offer - He couldn’t actually hold Lance’s hand! What was he thinking? – Oh no, Lance was reaching for it. Abort, Keith! Abort.

“Down low, too slow,” said Keith, snatching his hand back before Lance could touch it.

“Down low, too slow?” repeated Lance.

Oh nooooo! Keith sounded like the biggest dork in the universe!

“Good one, man,” said Lance, taking the hand he was going to put in Keith’s and using it to rub the back of his neck. Keith stared at that hand. To think… he’d almost made palm on palm contact with that. He may have even had significant finger entwining. Or what if Lance did that thing where you pull one of your fingers free and use it to scratch the other’s palm? Keith shuddered. Why was hand holding so erotic?

Keith turned away, feeling his face grow hot for the second time in the past five minutes. What did Lance think about him constantly blushing in front of him?

“Let’s keep moving, okay?” Keith said, his voice scolding Lance even though he knew he was the one guilty of losing focus. He needed to stop fantasizing about the feeling of Lance’s fingers locked with his and concentrate of looking for his dad. Keith started moving again. He set his jaw and told himself to not look back at Lance for anything.

He sensed Lance moving behind him, oddly silent for once. Eventually Lance asked quietly, “How old we you when you lost your dad? I mean… I’m assuming his dead that’s why we’re looking for him here.”

“I was ten,” said Keith.

“And your mom left when you were a baby?”

“Yes.”

“So then where did you live?” asked Lance.

“Foster homes,” said Keith. He felt embarrassed about this. There was a reason he didn’t go around telling people about his childhood unless directly asked.

“So how did you --?”

“Shiro came around to my school and tested the students in my class,” said Keith quickly. He wasn’t fond of answering the question of how a foster brat gets into a top school. There was judgment hidden inside there. It made him feel like a charity case. “Griffin was in my class too. That’s how he got in.”

“Oh, James?” said Lance. “That guy was a real jerk when we were younger.”  
“Yeah, he was. I think he’s grown out of it though now that he’s recognized as the superstar he’s always been.”

“James isn’t a superstar. That title is reserved for the locator of the Blue Lion.”

“Right, you,” scoffed Keith.

“I meant you, Keith,” said Lance.

Keith had promised himself he wouldn’t look at Lance again so of course he turned a looked at him. Luckily Lance was looking away as he spoke (because eye contact is almost more sensual than finger entwining.)

“You were drawn out to the desert by the Blue Lion’s energy,” said Lance. “I think about it all the time.”

“It was a group effort,” said Keith.

“Yeah, but Hunk used his like engineering skills to locate the cave and I used my special skill of touching stuff when I shouldn’t to activate the cave drawings and deactivate Blue’s particle barrier, but you… you sensed the Blue Lion was there. Even Allura can’t do that. She used the Castleship to find the other lions. I think that’s a really cool skill.”

“Why are you complimenting me?” asked Keith. ‘That’s a funny way to say thank you,’ he self-scolded.

“Because you’re our fearless leader,” said Lance.

That wasn’t true. Keith had one really big fear and that was of his feelings for the boy in front of him and how they never wanted to dissipate no matter how many times he watched Lance flirt with Allura.

“… And your leadership really got us through those last couple battles. They were big and everything went so fast. I realize I never stopped to tell you, you did a good job. I know it wasn’t the job you wanted, but you make it look easy. It’s a natural fit. That’s why you’re a superstar. I’d give you a sticker, but I’m fresh out of art supplies.”

“Why are you saying all this?” asked Keith. Once again, not a thank you.

“Uh,” said Lance, suddenly looking flustered. “I’m not sure. Maybe it was that thing the Lion Goddess said about honesty not being squandered. I don’t know if that inspired me to be honest or if it’s literally making me be honest. I just know, hearing how rough a start you had to life, makes me appreciate you even more.”

Keith couldn’t handle it, he was going to sink into the floor and die. At least he would die happy. Lance finally stopped looking to the side and turned his gaze towards Keith. Keith quickly turned back around. If he looked Lance in the eye at this moment there was a chance he’d lunge and kiss him. Ugh. He was such a predator for even thinking that.

“I mean, I was always impressed with you at the Garrison,” continued Lance. “That’s why I wanted to be your rival so badly.”

“That makes no sense,” said Keith.

“No, it does. See, if I was your rival that would mean that you recognized me as talented enough to be a threat. It would mean I was your equal.”

‘You are my equal!’ Keith screamed in his head, but couldn’t get the words out.

Lance, being Lance just continued to fill the void with more talking. “Obviously I wasn’t worth even noticing.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Keith.

“You didn’t even remember me from the Garrison.”

Oh no, he’d hurt Lance’s feelings and he didn’t even know. “It’s not that you weren’t noticeable, Lance,” said Keith. “It’s just I had too big a chip on my shoulder to pay attention to anyone.” It was hard to admit this. Lance was so happy-go-luck all the time. “I just assumed you all hated me and didn’t want me there. I mean, didn’t you take my pilot fighter spot when I dropped out? You were better off without me.”

“Keith you ran away and you should’ve just stayed away.” Keith heard Lance’s voice, but it wasn’t behind him, it was to the side. Keith looked to where the voice had come from but saw five of those grey figures tucked close together in a circle. He thought maybe their arms were linked, but they were already fading away. His mind was playing tricks on him.

“I don’t think that,” said Lance, defensively, responding to Keith’s claim that Lance was better off without him. “I wished you stuck around the Garrison long enough for me to get to know you. Like just in the past ten minutes I’ve learned more about you than I did the whole time in school and while on team Voltron,” said Lance. “I wish I’d asked earlier, but then we’ve been so busy. I doubt you know much about my life before either.”

“You grew up near Varadero in Cuba, but your family moved to the States when your older sister, Veronica, was accepted to the Garrison. You also have brothers named Luis and Marco. You have a big extended family including a niece and a nephew. You miss the beach a lot and don’t love the desert. You can surf, play guitar, and salsa dance. Or at least you brag that you can do those things. Knowing you, you might do them badly and still feel the need to brag about it. Considering that when we met you bragged about being a great pilot and you were the worst I’d ever seen, but to be fair you worked your ass off and now you are a great pilot. When you set your mind on something, achieve it. Your favourite movie quote is “the hunter becomes the hunted” and you’ve used it so many times during battle with the Galra that it’s practically a team mantra. Your favourite song is SexyBack, which you insist was inspired by you despite the fact that it was recorded before you were born. Your grandparents passed away while you were in space, two days apart, but they died of natural causes so you haven’t brought it up much because so many people are mourning those you died in battle… Oh, and your favourite food is garlic knots.”

“Wow,” said Lance. Then he added in his flirty voice, “Why you so obsessed with me?”

“I’m not obsessed with you!” snapped Keith. “You just talk about yourself incessantly and I have a really good memory.”

“Have a good memory and you’re obsessed with me. I’m on to you.”

Keith frowned. He wasn’t sure if he should feel exposed or excited that it at least sounded like Lance was flirting with him, even if he was just playing. Still he kept hearing Lance’s voice in his head. ‘You should’ve stayed away.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	12. Team Punk Go Poof?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are getting more freaky in the mystery realm Hunk and Pidge are trapped in.

Chapter 12 – Team Punk Go Poof?

“There is a really good prize,” said Bored, “But I’m not supposed to tell you what it is.”

“Is it getting out of here with our lives?” asked Pidge, annoyed.

“That I can’t control that,” said Bored. “That’s up to you. You signed the liability waiver. You’ve entered at your own risk.”

“We didn’t sign anything,” argued Pidge.

“You made an oral agreement with the Lion Goddess.”

“Wait, can we back up to where we might die?” asked Hunk. It’s worth mentioning at this point that this very serious conversation was happening inside the giant bouncy castle with Hunk and Bored jumping. Pidge was sitting, refusing to join the fun, but the bounces of the other two were jostling her, making it hard to look irate.

“We can’t die,” said Pidge.

“You can do anything if you believe in yourself,” said Bored, bounding by Pidge.

“I’m not going to believe in dying,” said Pidge. “None of this is happening anyway.”

“Oh, you should believe in dying,” said Bored. “You don’t want it to catch you by surprise.”

“That sounds murdery.”

“You’ve been warned before though. That what happens on the other planes affects you in the physical realm. If you die here, you die there.”

“How does that make sense?” asked Pidge

“Because if your quintessence dies, there’s nothing running the body. Have you ever had one of those nightmares where you’re falling or you’re being chased by a killer or you find a timebomb with seconds left before it blows? Then just as you impact the ground, or feel the knife go in, or see that counter hit 0, you wake up. That’s you narrowly avoiding death.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“People die in their sleep all the time, but usually they call it ‘natural causes.’ The real cause is they forgot to wake up in time.”

“If you didn’t wake up, your dream would just continue, you wouldn’t die.”

“How do you know? There really is only one way to find out...”

“So are we dreaming?” asked Pidge, wondering if this realm was the dream realm the Lion Goddess had mentioned.

“I don’t know, are you?” asked Bored.

“I’m asking you.”

“And I’m asking you.”

Pidge groaned. “Can’t you just give me a straight answer?”

“Not if the answer isn’t mine to give. But I’ll give you a hint and say you’re on to something there.”

Pidge scowled. Talking to Bored was like conversing with an evil nursery rhyme.

“I’m kinda freaking out about this whole we die here, we die in real life thing,” confessed Hunk.

“Oh, you should be scared,” agreed Bored. “Spirit death is much worse than meat death. If your quintessence dies, there’s nothing left of you to move on to the After. You just go out. Poof. Like a candle.”

“I don’t wanna go poof!” cried Hunk.

“Hunk, calm down,” said Pidge. “I’m never going to let you go poof.”

“Grandaddy hottie nearly went poof.”

“Who?” asked Hunk.

“Well, of course Shiro nearly died, that’s what he does!” said Pidge. “But we’re not poofing.”

“Great,” said Bored. “I’d hate for you to die before we even start the fun. Let’s do a challenge next!”

The bounce house faded away, but instead of falling there was solid stone under their feet. Around them stone walls grew up out of the ground, connecting to form corners and passageways.

“Not a maze,” whined Pidge. “Can’t we just answer another riddle?”

“A maze is like a riddle for your feet,” said Bored.

“Kinda true,” agreed Hunk. “Um, is there anything in there that’ll make us go poof?”

“I don’t know,” said Bored. “Is there?” She wiggled her eyebrows up and down.

“C’mon,” said Pidge, pulling Hunk into the first passageway. “We’ll do your dumb maze and then I want three more questions!” To herself Pidge silently reminded herself not to pose any questions until then lest Bored once again decided those counted towards her total.

“But I’m afraid of minotaurs and the other maze creature… What’s that freaky chick with the snakes for hair?”

“Medusa.”

“I’m afraid of Medusas!”

“Don’t think about them or you might end up conjuring them,” warned Pidge.

They came to their first fork. “We’re already lost,” said Hunk.

“No, we’re not,” said Pidge, placing her right hand on the wall. “We’ll follow the Right Hand Rule.”

“What’s that?”

“If we keep our right hand on the wall and don’t ever lift it, just follow along even if we feel like we’re backtracking, it will lead us out. It’s not the fastest method, but it’ll work.”

“Right, no, that makes sense,” agreed Hunk, his engineering brain finally kicking in. “It all has to lead somewhere, right?”

“That’s boring,” said Bored, peaking over one of the walls.

“Would us getting lost be more fun?” asked Pidge.

“It would if you panicked.”

The two of them continued along, dutifully keeping their right hands on the wall and never lifting off. Bored kept them company and by that I mean she floated along the top occasionally saying, “You’re not even close to the end” between yawning fits.

“Man, I can’t believe Shiro almost died again,” said Hunk.

“Really?” questioned Pidge. “I can believe it.”

“Do you think we should give him a collar with a bell on it so we can better keep track of him or should we straight up put him in a retirement home so he can be safe and warm for once?”

“Or we could split the difference and get him one of those life alert necklaces.”

“Man, I pity whoever gets assigned to respond to his constant calls of distress. Hey, where’d ghost child go?” asked Hunk.

Pidge looked up and saw Bored was gone. “Hopefully she’s quiznaked right off, but more likely she’s sabotaging us in some way.” And just as she said that, the wall beneath her right hand faded out of existence. “What the…?” While she was busy looking at where the wall used to be, she walked right into where the wall now was, smack dab in front of her. “Ow! Hey!”

“You okay?” asked Hunk.

“The walls in a maze aren’t supposed to move!” Pidge yelled out.

“Oh no,” said Bored, appearing behind Pidge and making her jump. “Now your dumb hand thing isn’t going to work.”

“You’re not playing fair!” Pidge accused.

“I’m not playing anything,” argued Bored. “I’m just watching. You don’t like the maze, talk to the one who made the maze.”

Pidge turned and looked at Hunk. She sighed heavily. “You made the maze too?”

“I may have thought of it before it appeared…”

“Did you move the wall?”

“Well, you put the idea of Bored sabotaging us in my head and I thought, ‘what would she do? I know, move the wall.’”

“So you really are just controlling everything? Did you even make this?” Pidge gestured to Bored.

“Oh, what a twist if I wasn’t real?” asked Bored with a laugh. “Can you imagine? Well, you probably couldn’t, but he could. That was a clue by the way. Oh, and to answer your questions, yes he made the maze, yes he moved the wall, yes he’s controlling everything, and no he didn’t make me. That was four questions. The last was a freebie.”

“Ugh!” cried Pidge.

“Maybe you should stop asking if the Builder is making everything and question why you’ve made nothing, hmmm Knowledge Seeker?”

This gave Pidge pause. With all her brain-power, why wasn’t she participating in molding their environment through thoughts? She was almost on to something, but at that exact moment a hole was punched in a nearby wall and through it stepped a minotaur with snakes for hair. It roared through its mouth and hissed through it’s hair.

“Ah! A Medusotaur!” yelled Hunk, already starting to run in the opposite direction.

“Hunk, what have you done?” cried Pidge, right on his heels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	13. Seyoncé

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coran shows up late for the seance.

Chapter 13 – Seyoncé

Five lions stood guard, protecting their flock of paladins who sat in a circle, hands held, eyes closed, motionless. Not even the wind dared to pick up and disturb a single hair on the heads of their empty bodies as their souls explored worlds unknown.

Total peace and then…

“Hello?”

… Coran arrived.

“Allura? Paladins?” he called out as he peeked around from behind Black’s leg. “I got this invite from Lance inviting me to a…Se-yon-cé?” Coran looked down at the card Lance had slid under his door. “Am I pronouncing that right? I’m sorry I’m late.” He walked in between the legs of Black. “I brought snacks as requested.” Coran held up a tiny, personal sized bag of plain chips. 

“Oh, there you are!” Having spotted the group in the middle, Coran approached them. “Sorry. Have we started?”

No answer. I mean… how could they?

“Ah, a bit of mediation time, eh? Great great grandpoppy used to the lead the Altean first infrantry in mediation practices before battle. Really cleared the mind and created focus for combat. Of course there was that one time everyone zoned out so hard the battle started without them. Lost half the soldiers before anyone snapped out of it. That was grandpoppy’s last battle... Oops.” Coran’s foot had knocked over one of the candles. “That’s a fire hazard.”

Coran set the candle back upright and stepped over Pidge and Hunk’s arms and into the circle. “No one get up, I’ll just join in. Wanna nudge over, numbers three and four?”

Coran sat down and wiggled himself in between Lance and Keith. He tried to push back against their arms, but the boys wouldn’t let go of each other’s hands while in deep mediation.

“Bit snug,” said Coran, squished between Keith and Lance. “Okay…” He took a deep breath in and out then closed his eyes to match everyone else in the circle.

He was still, but only for a moment. He peeked with one eye and looked at the mask-like faces of Hunk, Pidge, Allura, and Shiro. Coran slowly lifted a chip to his mouth and crunched it. He chewed it, thoughtful…

“No, I don’t like this,” said Coran. “This Seyoncé feels wrong.” 

He hopped to his feed and scuttled off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	14. The one where Lance takes off his mask

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance gets vulnerable and Keith doesn't know how to handle it.

Chapter 14 – The one where Lance takes off his mask

“Can we just look for my dad?” asked Keith.

“I’m looking, I’m looking,” said Lance, swinging his head back and forth, comically. “Man, this place goes on forever and it’s all just so grey. Do you think we’re far from where we started? Maybe we should’ve left a trail of breadcrumbs or something more modern so we could find our way back?”

“We can worry about getting back after I’ve spoken to my dad.” He kept striding forward into the abyss.

“Okay…,” said Lance. “I guess we’ve never gotten lost forever before so I should have some faith. Um Keith?”

“What?” asked Keith, wondering if allowing Lance to come along really had been a mistake.

“How come you don’t want to meet my parents?”

The blush in Keith’s cheeks came on so sudden it was like turning on rapid boil on the stove. “I – what?”

“When I was first reunited with them you didn’t stick around long enough for me to introduce you to my family and now whenever I ask you to come hang with us you say your busy even though we haven’t really been truly busy in weeks. It’s starting to feel like you’re avoiding it. Are you?”

“Why are you asking me this?” Keith really had a real knack for never answering Lance’s direct questions.

“I dunno. Maybe it’s that whole honesty thing in this place, but it’s kinda been bugging me.”

“You should introduce them to Allura,” said Keith. “You’ll probably be dating her soon.”

“I have introduced them to Allura,” said Lance and Keith could actually pinpoint the second where his heart broke. “But I don’t think we’re going to be dating.”

And then… hope.

“Why won’t you be dating?” asked Keith. “You’ve been trying to get with her since you first laid eyes on her and back in your bedroom you said she seems interested.”

“Interested all of sudden,” said Lance. “I don’t trust it. What if she’s just looking for a rebound after Lotor?”

“Lotor was nearly a year ago,” said Keith.

“That doesn’t mean she’s had time to process finding out her first great love was secretly a homicidal maniac narcissist who was committing genocide to her people on the lowdown. Like, we’ve been busy. There are all sorts of little things I haven’t processed yet from our travels like how did we end up doing an ice show in space? Did they get the idea from earth or did both planets independently come up with the idea for figure skating? And why do 99.9% of the aliens we meet speak English? Why is Bii-Boh-Bi the exception? If I’m failing to process these there’s no way Allura is just over Lotor. Like it doesn’t add up. Lotor to me?”

“Lance!” snapped Keith. “What have I told you about math?”

Lance sighed, “To leave it to Pidge. Sorry it’s just… I don’t believe this is real. I can’t imagine any scenario where Allura actually picks me. I’m not even the most eligible Paladin. I wouldn’t be getting that rose. She’d probably give them to Hunk, Pidge, Coran… You for sure. Shiro’s gay, but he’d still get a rose.”

“What roses?” asked Keith, he’d gotten lost along the way during Lance’s ranting. Keith actually stopped walking so he could turn back and look at Lance and when he did he was struck by how small Lance suddenly looked.

“I’m not the hacker or the engineer or the leader. I chose the role of sharpshooter because everything else was taken, but even that’s not an essential skill to the team. And that Kinkade guy could probably take my place yesterday and be a better Paladin.”

“Lance, I’m confused. Are you taking about not being good enough for the team or not good enough for Allura?”

“Both, all of it. It all ties together. I mean, you yourself would chose me to leave in a heartbeat.”

Keith felt his heart swell so big he could feel it in his throat. He couldn’t understand where all this doubt was coming from. But Lance had said he felt compelled to be honest so was this how Lance really felt? How was he supposed to know when Lance always seemed so confident? Keith felt responsible. He’d always been so guarded with Lance. He never wanted to compliment him too much or be too warm because what if it came off as flirting and Lance figured him out…

[“Lance? Why Lance?”

“I just don’t wanna be stuck here for eternity with Lance.”]

Keith heard those voices. He heard his own voice. They came from beside him but he couldn’t look away from Lance’s tragic face.

“I saw you on that game show,” Lance continued. “You immediately started writing when Bob asked us to pick someone to leave. You didn’t even hesitate when you had a chance to get rid of the dumb one.”

Lance was starting to cry and it was killing Keith. He wanted to hold Lance, to comfort him, but he didn’t know how so Keith found himself hugging his own body. “I lied, okay?” said Keith. “You were my pick, but I didn’t tell Bob the real reason I chose you. I couldn’t.”

Lance looked up and him and Keith imagined walking up to him and just kissing him. Letting him know that way that the reason he chose him was because he would always choose Lance first. He would always choose to protect him. But he knew that kiss wouldn’t help Lance in anyway. Lance didn’t need to feel attractive right now, certainly not if that came from someone he didn’t feel the same about. Lance needed to feel valued. Luckily Keith had a lot of reasons he’d chosen Lance so he was able to be honest when he said, “I chose you because –”

“I was the most homesick,” said Lance, cutting him off.

“No!” snapped Keith, suddenly annoyed with Lance’s self-defeating attitude. “I chose you because you’re my right hand man and I trusted you the most to find a way to save the rest of us.”

Lance looked at Keith with extreme suspicion. “How? Because unless your rescue was limited to shooting a target from a distance, I’m not sure what you expected me to do.”

“I expected you to think of a solution as the team’s most creative member. I expected you to find the right people to help you because maybe Allura and Hunk can do diplomacy, but you could charm a good chunk of the universe into following you. And I expected you to never give up because you’ve always been the most persistent. You are the one person I’d want on the outside trying to get to us because I’ve watched you go down fighting hundreds of times only to get right back up again. I’m so sure that you’d never quit that I can go wandering into the underworld with you, confident that when the time comes you’ll find us a way back out.”

Lance’s face was still full of doubt and it was so raw… it made Keith angry. “For crying out loud, Lance! You’re the one that is always there for everyone. You make sure everyone feels valued, you are there in a heartbeat if anyone needs to talk. You are everyone’s rock, but you can’t do that for yourself? You can’t look at everything you’ve accomplished and all that you do for others and reason that you are a great person and belong on the team.” Keith could hear his voice cracking like it always did when he got emotional, but he couldn’t stop himself now. “You are invaluable to the team, I tried to show you that.”

[“I’ve been doing some thinking and with Shiro back that makes six paladins, but there are only five lions and if I’m right, that’s one paladin too many.”

“Solid math.”

“Look, when Shiro takes over the Black Lion, you’re going to want your Red Lion back. If I get a lion, I’d have to take Blue from Allura, but she’s progressed a lot faster than any of us did. She might even be able to unlock powers we don’t know of.”

“That’s true.”

“So, maybe the best thing I can do for the team is step aside.”

“What are you talking about?”

“This isn’t a participation game. This is war and you want your best soldiers on the front lines.”

“Stop worrying about who flies what and just focus on your missions. Things will work themselves out.”]

This time Keith had to look when he heard the voices. At first his eyes only saw the grey wispy figures, but then it felt like it was coming into focus, two of them looking like him and Lance… “Are you seeing this?”

“What do you mean you tried to show me?” asked Lance. Keith looked and Lance’s eyes were locked on him. “Don’t you mean tried to tell me? Wait… Keith, did you leave the team so I wouldn’t have to give up a lion?”

Keith froze. He’d never expected Lance to figure that out, but it had been his slip up. This is why he’d always avoided talks like these with Lance because he knew he couldn’t keep his feelings concealed when they were always bubbling below the surface.

“I never would’ve asked you to do that!” yelled Lance, his volume surprising Keith. “This whole time I thought you’d abandoned us, abandoned our mission and you just didn’t want my feelings to get hurt?”

“No,” cried Keith, feeling backed into a corner. “That’s not the reason!” Keith was hit by a pain so sudden and sharp he collapsed to his knees.

“Keith!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	15. The Seed of Doubt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro reminisces about Keith's first Pride and landmark moment in his relationship with Adam.

Chapter 15 – The Seed of Doubt

[“I don’t like being here, Shiro. Everyone’s gonna know.”

Shiro had been busy waving at a drag queen in a leopard print tankini and hadn’t fully processed what Keith had just said. “Know what?” he asked.

“That I’m… you know…” Keith dropped his voice down to a whisper, “Gay.”

Shiro looked away from the parade happening in front of him and looked Keith in the eye. “Keith, I would never try to get you to come out before you’re ready. You can do that at your own pace, but just so you know people who attend Pride aren’t all gay. Look around. A lot of the people here are just here to be allies. You don’t have to be gay to attend the parade. You don’t even need to be gay to walk in the parade.”

“Oh,” said Keith, looking sheepish. “I guess I don’t know a lot about these things.”

“Pride exists to celebrate being able to love whatever gender you love and be whatever gender you feel. Anyone can celebrate that with us.”

“That’s cool,” said Keith, seeming to brighten a bit.

“There’s Adam’s float!” said Shiro, pointing at the pink pickup coming around the bend hauling a float that had Plaht City Pixies written across the side. The Galaxy Garrison had a float in the parade every year, but Adam deemed it more than a little drab. Anyone who marched with it was required to wear their Garrison uniform. Adam preferred to march with his all queer softball team each year.

The Pixies’ float was blasting Blondie songs and had Adam and his friends dancing on the back, wearing rainbow tank tops and shooting water guns into the crowd. When Adam spotted Shiro in the crowd, he leapt off the side of the float and came jogging over. When he reached Shiro he pulled his boyfriend into one of those super hot kisses they otherwise never would have dared in public.

Keith looked a little embarrassed.

“Come up on the float with us,” insisted Adam, tugging at Shiro’s arm.

“Oh no,” said Shiro, waving Adam off. “I’m just watching this year.” Shiro actually did usually march with the Garrison float, drab uniform and all.

Adam looked at Keith and gave him a kind smile, understanding the reason why Shiro was only spectating. It was the first time Shiro had even convinced Keith to come to Pride, he wasn’t going to push his luck. Adam kissed Shiro again and ran off to catch up with his float.

Keith sighed loudly. “You sure people don’t assume you’re gay if you march?”

“Uh, yeah,” said Shiro, curious.

Keith grabbed Shiro’s elbow and pulled him out onto the parade route. Shiro followed Keith as thye sped walked through the marchers – past several young women draped in bisexual pride flags, around an asexual pride float, zig-zagging through a group of Enbys with bubble guns, ducking under a ‘Trans Visibility’ banner - so they could catch up to Adam’s float. Keith kept his head down, a slight blush on his face. Shiro found it all so adorable and he felt so proud of Keith.

“Shiro!” called out several voices when they reached Adam’s float. Adam’s softball teammates were waving and calling out to him. “Get on up here, Daddy!”

Several hands reached out and Shiro nodded to Keith so they’d give him a hand up first.

“Hey, Shiro, who’s the noob?” asked Adam’s friend Warren, when they were both on board.

“This is Takashi’s little brother, Keith,” said Adam, tapping Keith on the shoulder.

“Oh right,” said Warren. “The one you’re going to adopt after you two get married.”

Keith’s jaw dropped. Adam blushed. “Something I may had said in confidence during post-game drinks.” Shiro gave Adam an annoyed look. “You know liquor makes these lips loose.

“Whoops. Drama,” muttered Warren.

“We haven’t mentioned anything to Keith yet,” said Shiro, looking to Keith to see how he was handling this news.

“I didn’t even know you two were engaged,” said Keith.

“Nothing’s official,” said Adam, dismissing it with a wave of his hand.

“Maybe it’s time we make it official,” said Shiro. Something about this moment felt right and because of that Shiro dropped to one knee in front of his long-term boyfriend, the only person Shiro had ever loved. Everyone around them gasped. “Adam…”

“Pause! Nope! Cancel!” said Adam, grabbing Shiro by the arm and forcing him to stand back up. “Getting engaged at Pride, really Takashi? That’s so tacky.”

“Oh,” said Shiro, feeling a bit embarrassed. “It felt like a good moment.”

“You’re right,” said Adam. “Which is why I don’t appreciate you stealing my thunder.”

“What do you mean?” asked Shiro. But in response Adam dropped down to one knee in front of Shiro. The gasps were twice as loud this time. “But…,” said Shiro. “You said it was tacky.”

“Which didn’t suit you. I’m the tacky queen in this relationship.” Adam pulled a ring box out of his back pocket. He opened it up and revealed a shiny silver ring. “Takashi, will you do me the honour of pretending you actually need to consider whether you want to marry me when we both already know the answer is yes because you literally just tried to propose to me.”

Shiro nodded. “Yes.” He accepted the ring, sliding it onto his left ring finger as Adam’s friends cheered. It was more than just that. He could hear the crowd around them screaming as everyone who saw the float could see from Adam’s pose that an engagement was happening smack dab in the middle of the Plaht City Pride Parade. “Adam, I can’t believe you had this plan-”

“Shush scene stealer,” said Adam, cutting him off. “I’m not finished.” Shiro didn’t know what he was talking about, but then Adam looked at Keith who had been watching all this with a stunned look on his face. “Keith,” began Adam. “Will you do us the honour of giving us the okay to start the paperwork in order to adopt you?”

Shiro felt his heart burst with love for Adam. He was including Keith in the proposal. He was asking both of them to become a family together with him.

Keith looked shell-shocked.

“Oh my gawd!” yelled someone from the crowd. “The three of them are gonna get married. Poly love rules!”

“No, no,” Adam called back at the woman who was walking hand in hand with her boyfriend and her girlfriend. “He’s only sixteen. You’re misreading this, but I fully support what *you’re* doing! Poly rules!” Adam looked back at Keith. “Well?”

Keith looked at Shiro. “Shiro…?”

“What do you say, Keith?” asked Shiro, tears in his eyes. “Can we start the paperwork?”

“Shiro!” cried Keith, pouncing on Shiro and hugging him. Adam stood and hugged them both. Lord, he could’ve stayed in this perfect moment forever.]

“Shiro?…Shiro!” Whose voice was that? “SHIRO!!!”

[Shiro felt a tug inside his chest. It was pulling him away from Keith… away from Adam. He was being dragged away as a female voice called out,] “SHIRO! SHIRO!”

It was grey. It was foggy. Shiro felt like he had dust in his lungs. He was coughing. He fell to his knees but the feeling in his chest kept tugging him forward so he was forced to crawl through what felt like ash.

He broke free of the grey and collapsed at her feet, cold air filling his sore lungs. “Shiro,” said Allura. She placed her hand on his shoulder and he looked at the black string tied there and remembered the other end was attached to his heart. That’s what had pulled him out… But out of what?

Freaked out, Shiro turned and looked at where he’d crawled from and saw a wall of those grey figures milling around. “What happened?”

“You suddenly dove into them,” said Allura. “Just out of no where and I lost sight of you, but I had the string so I just kept reeling it in until I was able to pull you out. Shiro, what happened?”

“I don’t know,” said Shiro, his head as foggy as the place he’d just been. “I – I saw Adam’s face,” said Shiro, his memory returning like you would recalling going to bed before you woke up from a vivid dream. “I must’ve run to him thinking that was him.”

“Adam can’t travel farther than the astral plane,” said Allura. “We’re not there yet. Whatever this is, it’s not full of ghosts.”

Shiro felt a lump in his throat. “I was remembering something and it felt so real. Is that what this place is? It’s memory. All those figures…” It was almost clear now, like spotting someone you know out of the corner of your eye. The grey figures were people from Shiro’s past.

“When I look a certain way,” said Allura, “I see Alteans I’ve known. Ones who are long dead.”

“We’re just remembering them,” said Shiro, standing up. “I almost got lost in there.”

“That must be where the Paladins are,” said Allura, concerned.

“They’ll be okay,” said Shiro, patting her on the shoulder. “Their connections to their Lions can keep them from getting too lost. I’m glad I had you to anchor me.”

“Anytime,” said Allura. “Are you okay?”

“Not really,” admitted Shiro. “But I want to keep going.”

“Okay, but no more wandering off,” scolded Allura. Then she actually took his hand and held it like he were a toddler near a busy street.

“Allura…,” began Shiro, but she only gripped his hand harder. He gave up on arguing. Honestly, he couldn’t trust himself. Not here. Not in this in between place. He turned his head up to the red and blue stars still seeming so far, but so familiar.

As they walked in silence, he tried not to continue the memory in his head, he tried not to drift back. Shiro wasn’t sure if just thinking about it would make him slip back into that place or if he needed to physically move off their invisible path again.

He tried not to think about it, but the scene still played out in the back of his mind. He was looking at the stars, but he could almost feel Adam’s head resting against his chest in bed that night. Adam nearly half asleep as Shiro gazed at the ring.

[“That was so sweet of you,” he’d whispered.]

Look at the stars, Shiro. Stay present.

[“Including Keith in the proposal.”

“Of course,” Adam had mumbled, nearly asleep. “It’s like the universe delivered him to us.”

“Hmm?”]

Two stars – one red, one blue. Don’t think back.

[“It’s not like we can make a baby from scratch.” Shiro had chuckled at the joke. Adam continued, “And it’s not like we’d have time to raise one from scratch. Nearly grown is perfect.”

Shiro inhaled, feeling that deep hurt again. He kept his eyes on those stars. Adam hadn’t said everything he’d meant. “And it’s not like we’d have time to raise one from scratch before you up and die on me.” Shiro hadn’t thought too hard about kids until that moment. But it was true. By the time they’d gotten a baby through an adoption agency… With the unknown rate at which his health could’ve decayed Shiro might’ve been in diapers before the baby was out of them. They would never adopt other than Keith.]

So the seed of doubt was planted.

But that would’ve been fine. Sometimes those we love plant seeds of doubt inside us without meaning to. Shiro didn’t have tend to it. He didn’t have to give that doubt sunlight and water and feed it until it was a forty foot oak tree ready topple in the first heavy windstorm and crush their plans of a future together.

Shiro winced as Allura tightened her grip so hard it actually hurt. Her Altean strength was incredible. And he was grateful in that moment that it helped him focus once again on the task at hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	16. Bonding Revisited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lost in the realm of Memories, Keith learns of Lance sacrificing his life to save Allura, they revisit "the bonding moment," and there is one memory Lance won't let Keith see.

Chapter 16 – Bonding Revisited

Apparently Keith’s idea of comforting someone was to yell at them. Lance remembered what this mother had once told him: That if someone is upset and you don’t know what to say, offer them a hug. Sometimes that’s the thing they need the most. 

Keith didn’t offer Lance a hug so Lance found himself wrapping his own arms across his chest, holding himself because he felt like everything from inside him was threatening to pour out. Lance hadn’t decided to bare his soul, it had just happened and now he was listening to the anger in Keith’s voice. He knew what Keith was really mad about, what any of them would be mad about when they found out how bad things were inside Lance’s head…

‘How dare you, Lance! 

We trusted you to be okay.

We trusted you to keep a smile on your face no matter what.

We trusted you to be the clown,

To be the butt of the joke,

To be the punching bag,

To be the seventh wheel,

To provide cover while the real heroes did their work.

We trusted you to live off the attention we’d only offer if you annoyed us enough.’

And he’d wanted so much attention from Keith. And he’d tried for so long. He’d tried for years to be worthy of Keith’s attention and Keith was so good at simply walking away. And after what Keith just said, apparently it was also Lance’s fault that Keith had left.

“I never would’ve asked you to do that!” yelled Lance, his pain erupting out of him. “This whole time I thought you’d abandoned us, abandoned our mission and you just didn’t want my feelings to get hurt?”

“No! That’s not the reason!” Then Keith cried out and he fell to his knees.

“Keith!” cried Lance, in a panic. 

Lance was immediately on Keith, prying at him, wanting to inspect him, looking for where he was shot. Because he must’ve been shot, otherwise he wouldn’t have just dropped like that. Keith was gripping his stomach so Lance tried to pull at his arms, asking if he could look. “No, I’m fine,” said Keith through gritted teeth. He’d taken an arm from his stomach only to wave Lance away.

He didn’t look fine, but Lance wasn’t sure what to do. Yell at Keith to stop being so weird about touching and let him look?

Keith got up to his feet, but he looked tense still. His breathing was shallow, his back a bit hunched. “I just wanted to tell you,” began Keith and Lance nearly snapped realizing Keith was ignoring his own physical pain to continue their argument like the petty jerk that he was. “I wanted to say that you’re worthy.” Keith inhaled deep and stood up a bit straighter, the tension leaving his brow.

Lance let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He’d been so scared for Keith and he felt this rush of relief that he was okay.

“You’re worthy of anyone you want,” continued Keith. “And I didn’t leave because I didn’t want you to get your feelings hurt. I left because I thought you might do something stupid like volunteer to leave and that would’ve been a big mistake. The team can’t go on without you.”

“Yeah, but what about you. We couldn’t -”

“I was replaced by a clone of Shiro and you guys kept going… for awhile anyway… But without you we would’ve been hopeless. You’re the heart of them team.”

Lance was skeptical. “I think you’re making fun of me somehow…”

“No, you’re the heart,” said Keith, getting angry which actually sounded more sincere to Lance’s ears.

“You’re thinking of Allura.”

“Allura isn’t the heart. You’re the heart.”

“Yeah, but Hunk….”

“Hunk isn’t the heart! You’re the heart!”

“Okay… But let me pitch one more name to you… Cor –”

“You’re the damn heart, Lance! What did I say before? That you’re always there for everyone. That’s what the stupid heart does.”

“Oh, I’m a stupid heart now?”

“You look out for us and that’s why we care about you and that’s why… That’s why Allura’s fallen in love with you.”

Lance shrank in on himself. Those words didn’t feel like the truth even if Keith believed it. “Maybe… Or maybe she’s just grateful because I died for her.”

“You…,” muttered Keith, his eyes going wide. “WHAT?!”

This time when the memory hit it wasn’t like before. It wasn’t wisps of grey smoke impersonating their voices. This time it was like the tide rolling in. The memory washed over them appearing full-blown in HD colour with surround sound.

[There was the Omega shield, fused back together by Blue and Red. Energy traveling like wild lightening through the seals they’d just created.

“What’s happening with the plates?” cried Lance’s voice.

The lightening met in the center and shot out, heading straight for Blue. 

“ALLURA!” screamed Lance. Red shot forward, knocking Blue safely out of the way as Red got hit by the bolt of electricity.

Lance’s scream rang out.]

“LANCE!” Keith’s yell broke through the memory, blew it away like dust in the wind. When Lance could see Keith again he was struck by how devastated Keith looked. Keith’s eyes found him. “You! What were you thinking? You said that killed you!”

“Well, just a bit,” stuttered Lance, completely thrown by Keith’s face. “I don’t know the medical specifics, but I think maybe my heart had stopped, but like my brain wasn’t dead yet then Allura used her powers to restart my heart. She’s like an Altean defibrillator.”

“You are stupid,” said Keith, turning away from him.

“What?” said Lance, hurt.

“Giving your life to save someone else’s. What’s the point if you die to save one person? What do you gain?”

“I wasn’t trying to gain anything,” said Lance. “I just reacted. I saved her on impulse.”

“Like you did with Coran when you jumped in front of a bomb for him,” said Keith, still refusing to look back at him. “I told you then, Lance! I told you, you need to value your life more…”

“You…,” began Lance, but it was coming back to him. Those same words. Another memory washed over them, but where the last was a tidal wave, this one rode in like calm waves lapping at the shore.

[“Lance, are you okay?”

“We did it,” said Lance, holding Keith’s gaze. “We do make a good team.”]

Lance stared at himself, holding hands with Keith. It felt so bizarre to be on the outside of this time.

[“Can you walk?” asked Keith.

“Yeah,” said Lance, getting to his feet and immediately beginning to topple over.

“I got ya,” said Keith, catching Lance before he dropped. “Can you at least move your feet if I support you?”

Lance looked down. “Am I not moving my feet?”

“And now I’m thinking you have a concussion,” said Keith. “Maybe I should just carry you.”

“You can’t carry me,” said Lance, but before he was finished Keith had scooped him up into his arms. “Whoa… You are deceptively strong.”

Keith looked embarrassed. “Or maybe you’re deceptively light.”

“How dare you,” said Lance. “I’m pure muscle.”

“Sure you are,” said Keith, carrying Lance towards the healing pods. “So you saved Coran.”

“Yeah, I’m a hero. No big. You can have my autograph. Your mullet is soft,” said Lance, leaning his head against Keith’s.

“Uh…Thanks? Listen, you need to value your life more. Sacrificing yourself just for one person doesn’t make any sense. There’s no gains there.”

Lance sighed. “Fine. I won’t die. Because you said so. Unless this concussion thing takes me. No promises.”

Keith had made it to the healing pod and gently set Lance inside. “Good. Okay, I’m going to shut this thing and get Allura to turn it on.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” said Lance. “I need a nightlight.”

“Um, I think it glows. Will that work?”

“Yis. Wait, wait, wait.”

“What now?” asked Keith, annoyed.

“I’m scared.”

“That’s stupid. You’re not scared of dying, but you’re scared of the thing that’s going to heal you.”

“Will you stay with me?” asked Lance in a baby voice.

“I can’t come inside”, said Keith, confused.

“But like wait outside the glass so I know you’re there.”

“Uh, sure okay.”

“So I’ll see you when I’m out?”

“Yeah, I’ll be right here,” said Keith, closing the pod.

The light dimmed and came back up as time leapt forward. Lance was in his pod, readings appearing on the door to show his progress. Keith was still standing there, watching. Shiro approached.

“You should get some rest. Lance won’t be out until tomorrow.”

“I’m going to stay here,” said Keith. “I promised he’d see me when he woke up.”

Shiro looked at Keith for a moment before saying. “Okay. Good work today.” And walking off. Keith sat down and leaned up against the pod.]

“Wait…,” Lance’s actual voice, broke into the memory, washing the scene away like low tide. “I didn’t know you actually waited outside my pod.”

“All night,” said Keith, looking at the ground. “I only stepped away for a minute to watch Pidge and Allura’s stupid clock race and that’s the moment you decided to wake up. I went fourteen hours without peeing and I still missed the moment you got out.”

“Okay, but why was that special?” asked Lance, struggling to understand. “I was out of it when I made that stupid request.”

“Yeah, but I promised,” said Keith. “And I keep my promises. Even if I’m the only one who does…”

Lance hadn’t known Keith had waited with him all night when he was injured, that he’d planned to be the first thing he saw when he got out. Thinking of it now, Lance felt this warm feeling blossoming in his chest. One that felt so familiar…

[“Shiro, can I ask you something?”]

Lance was surprised to hear his own voice. He turned to look and saw two of those grey figures molding themselves into himself and Shiro.

[“Of course, Lance. What’s up?”

“Uh… you’re gay, right?”

“Last I checked.”

Lance paused, scrunching up his eyebrows. “Oh, so it can change?”

Shiro looked confused. “No it… Sorry, Lance, what did you want to ask me about?”]

“No! Nonononono!” said Lance, barging into the scene from his own memory and swiping and kicking at it until it dissipated into dust. “That is private! You do not replay that one!” he shouted up to the sky.

Suddenly self-conscious Lance looked to see what Keith thought of what Lance had just done and of the little of his memory he would’ve seen, but all he saw was Keith walking away.

“Where are you going?” asked Lance.

“To find my dad.”

Lance’s heart sank. “Keith, he’s not here. Haven’t you figured that out yet?”

Keith ignored him and quickened his pace.

“This place is just memories. If you saw your dad it was you remembering him. We need to find our way out now and look for the others.”

Keith broke out into a run. 

“Keith!” Lance couldn’t let him go. Not this time. He ran after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	17. What fools these mortals be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What kind of powers does a Medusotaur have? Pidge and Hunk are in over the heads in this battle, but at least the child-like entity named Bored is starting to provide some answers.

Chapter 17 – What fools these mortals be

“A Medusotaur, really Hunk? Really?” screamed Pidge as she ran through the maze of Hunk’s creation.

“I’m sorry! I couldn’t remember exactly what either of them looked like so my brain just kinda smushed them together!”

“Oh, was that your only option? To smush them together? You couldn’t have maybe, not imagined them instead?”

“Hey, I don’t see you pulling your weight with this imagining stuff!” snapped Hunk.

“Oh, yeah sorry I’m not manifesting things that could kill us! My bad!” retorted Pidge.

“Well, you could come up with some weapons,” yelled Hunk.

“Or - just a thought - You could!”

“That’s right,” said Hunk.

Pidge nearly collapsed as an axe dropped into her hands. “Now we’re talking,” she yelled, slidding to a stop.

Hunk had given himself a spiked mace and he slid to a halt too.

“Before, I turn around and look at the thing,” said Pidge. “Does it have the powers of Medusa?”

“Why? What are the Medusa’s powers?” asked Hunk, intrigued.

“…Nevermind.” Pidge spun and full on punted her axe at the Medusotaur. The axe went flying through the air and sliced off a good chunk of the snakes from its head. They screamed as they hit the ground. The Medusotaur roared. “Gruesome, but not an effective hit.”

Hunk launched his mace at the beast and it hit the thing squarely in the face. The Medusotaur fell back onto its rear.

“Run while it’s disoriented!” yelled Pidge.

They ran through the maze, taking random turns until the sound of its rampaging sounded far enough away then they stopped to catch their breath.

“Oh!” said Hunk, suddenly. “A Medusa does that turn to stone thing when you look it in the eye.”

“For quiznak’s sake, Hunk!” cried Pidge. “Now we can’t look at the thing.”

“Oh, shoot. My bad,” said Hunk in his apologetic tone.

“Do you really think you can hide from your own creation?” asked Bored, popping into existence in front of them. They both jumped.

“I don’t know,” said Hunk. “Wait. That’s up to me, right? Yes? I’m going to say a soft yes.”

“What is this place?” growled Pidge. “Why are you toying with us?”

“Ugh, I’m not supposed to tell you,” whined Bored, stretching out onto her back as she floated in front of them. “But secrets are so boring… Okay, fine, you’ve twisted my arm. I’m testing you.”

“Yeah, obviously, but why?” asked Pidge.

“Because we’re going to pick one of the paladins,” said Bored.

“Pick one of us to what?”

“Well, that I really shouldn’t say.”

“Then you’ve literally told us nothing,” snapped Pidge.

“It’s a good thing,” said Bored. “Like something you’d want to be worthy of and to be perfectly honest The Immortal Gay and the Living USB Stick are the front runners for it, but I fancy one of your two because I love an underdog… Plus you happened to stumble into my realm which has been so much fun.”

“What about Lance and Keith?” asked Hunk. “You said you were picking one of the paladins.”

“The idiots that tumbled down into the basement? They were never really in the running...”

“Basement?” repeated Hunk.

“Yeah, where we keep the memories,” said Bored. “Don’t you two know the path to the astral plane.”

“No,” said Pidge. “Which is why I keep asking you where we are!”

Bored sighed and held out a flat in front of her. “It goes Physical realm…” She stacked another hand on top… “Memory, Imagination and Dreams…” Bored raised both her hands up a level. “Then Astral Plane and The After” She stacked her hands up high again.

“So where are we?” asked Pidge, using the process of elimination. “Imagination or Dreams?”

“Oh well, that’s not a simple question. See, there’s a fine line between imagining and dreaming and really it comes down to who is in control. You or me. But I will give you a clue and say one of you is in Imagination and the other is in Dreams.”

“So Hunk is in Imagination and I’m in Dreams,” said Pidge, annoyed.

“Oh, so smart!”

“But we’re right beside each other,” said Hunk.

“Like I said, it’s not a physical distance. Just a matter of control.”

“I don’t want to be in either,” said Pidge. “I want to meet up with the others at the Astral Plane.”

“Maybe we should save Keith and Lance from…. Where did you say?” asked Hunk. “The basement?”

“Memory,” said Bored. “But I’d leave them down there if I were you. They have some things to work out. Also, if I were you, I’d leave them there since I wouldn’t have a choice since I’m trapped here until Bored is done playing with me. Also, if I were you, I’d be ticks away from being crushed.”

“What?” asked Hunk.

“Move!” yelled Pidge, pulling him away from the wall just as the Medusotaur crashed through it.

And they were running for their lives again as Pidge yelled, “Don’t look it in the eye!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	18. Going up?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura and Shiro pass through the gate and make the final ascent to the astral plane.

Chapter 18 – Going up?

"I see something up ahead, do you see it?" asked Allura. Finally something different in a land of grey memories. Allura had been beginning to doubt her ability to navigate Shiro to the astral plane.

"I see it too," said Shiro. "Whatever it is."

It looked like rainbow light shining out of a giant prism. As they approached, it seemed like the prism was actually a triangle shaped doorway.

"Could this be the gate the Goddess was talking about?" asked Shiro.

"I'm willing to bet a snarlcop on it," said Allura. What else could it be? Holding Shiro's hand firmly, she stepped through the gate.

Stars all around and what appeared to be clear glass under their feet. The strangest thing was directly in front of them. It was an escalator heading up so far she couldn't see the end of it, but she could tell it was pointed towards the red and blue stars.

"I think we go up," said Shiro.

As if in response a disembodied female Altean voice said, "Please step forward in an orderly fashion."

"That answers that question," said Allura, leading Shiro forward so they could step onto the escalator and begin their ascent.

The voice continued as if it were over an invisible loudspeaker. "Arms and legs do not need to be kept inside as you are not really here.

"This is a reminder that what you are experiencing is a manifestation of your mortal expectations of physical distance needing to be passed in order to travel.

"Manifestations may vary and your companions' experiences may differ."

Allura turned to Shiro, "You are seeing an escalator into the sky as well?"

"Oh yeah."

"At least we are seeing the same thing."

The voice was continuing, "Safety is not guaranteed.

"You are entering the astral plane at your own risk.

"Risks include loss of sanity, loss of memory, loss of sense of direction, and loss of essense, aka 'going poof.'

"The Ancient Ones are not responsible for damaged, lost, or stolen physical bodies."

Shiro sighed. "I don't like how any of that sounds."

"Shall we turn back?" asked Allura, jokingly as she gestured to the steps behind them. If they wanted to escape, going backwards down the stairs would only keep them in place. They'd need to jump off the side.

"This is not a recording," continued the voice, "This is your imagination.

"The passage of time is not what it appears.

"Existence is a lie.

"Life is meaningless.

"Abandon hope...

"Abandon hope...

"Abandon hope..."

The recording was skipping, or she supposed, Allura was imagining it skipping.

"Abandon hope..."

It was like hypnosis. It was making Allura dizzy. She felt Shiro's grip tighten on her hand as he must've been feeling the same disorientation.

When Allura was younger, before she reached her womanhood day, Allura had drank nunvil once with a friend. An entire bottle split between the two. They'd laid on the floor, her body heavy with what felt like extra gravity, watching swirls of colour dance on the ceiling. She'd watched an entire galaxy's birth and death play out in front of her eyes before her mother had found her in that state and nursed her sober again with water, balken stew, and an ice bath.

Allura felt that sensation again, like time was nothing, like her body was just a memory, like her life was something she'd dreamed up.

"Abandon hope..."

"Princess...," it was Shiro's voice. Allura remembered Shiro. The one with the black...no white hair. "Just keep holding on to me. I don't know what's happening, but we need to stay focused. Focus yields patience or something like that..."

Allura felt his hand in hers. She touched their clasped hands with her free one, letting that be a focus point, letting it un-blur her vision. Then she used that free hand to climb up his arm, fingers creeping, to his chest. When she found a shoulder, she let the hand wrap around his back and dipped her body forward so she came to rest against Shiro in a hug, his free hand finding her back as well.

"I haven't had a friend since I was a child." Allura was crying, she didn't know why she was or when she'd even started crying. "Since then, I haven't had friends, I've had duties."

"You have friends, Allura," Shiro promised her. "Dear ones."

"I don't know what to do next," confessed Allura and she realized she didn't mean on this journey. She meant in general. In life. She didn't know what being the last surviving monarch of a long lost planet meant anymore.

"Abandon hope..."

"We'll figure it out together," promised Shiro. "That's what friends are for."

Allura lifted her heavy head up. She wanted to see those stars. The red and blue. She wanted to know that her path was still set. When she'd first stepped onto the escalator she'd expected to be dropped off at the top and step into the astral plane like it was the top floor of the space mall. Instead what she saw ahead was a lightning storm above their heads, pink and purple bolts clashing and the escalator heading straight for it.

"Are you seeing this?" she asked.

"Abandon hope..."

"I am," said Shiro. "Just hold on. Don't listen to that voice."

"Abandon hope..."

"Let's take our hope with us," continued Shiro, ducking his head against Allura's as they mounted closer to the lightning.

Allura closed her eyes, burying her face against Shiro's chest. She thought of when she'd lost hope. Of when her father had touched her neck his magic, promising to see her soon, and she found herself passing out and knowing what that meant before her eyes fully closed. Alfor had abandoned all hope. He would protect Allura, but he would let Altea fall. And she'd fallen too. Fallen into a deep sleep. 10,000 years of sleep. 10,000 years of nightmares. And the first thing she'd seen when she'd woken up were Lance's ocean blue eyes.

Lance's eyes...

Lance's smile...

Lance's hideous ears...

Lance... Keith... Pidge... Hunk... Shiro... Hope was human. Hope was new paladins delivered to her castle from thousands of light years away. Allura had never really stopped to appreciate the blessing they were. She'd been so focused on what needed to be accomplished and so quick to dismay when they performed less than perfect, but in this void where she saw the flashes of lightning even with her eyes pressed shut, in a place where no hope was meant to pass, she felt them for the miracle they were.

Lightening crackled around her. The air smelt like burning.

"Abandon..."

Allura clung to Shiro like he was all five paladins. Like she could spread her love and gratitude to their hearts through his body. She focused on that feeling. She burned Hope for warmth inside her like a candle, like a bon fire, like a wild fire stretching beyond her into time and space itself.

"...Hope...hope...hope..."

Then...

Quiet. Stillness.

Allura opened her eyes and stepped out of Shiro's embrace, careful to keep his hand locked in hers. She looked around and saw the blue and red stars burning brighter than ever. She saw the astral plane stretched out around them.

"Shiro, we've made it," said Allura, but then she turned to look at him and nothing...

The hand that had held his moments ago closed around itself, her fingers touching her own palm.

"No! Shiro!" Allura yelled.

"It is alright," said a calm voice behind her. "I sent him away so we could speak privately, but he is protected by your love. No harm shall come to him."

That voice... Allura couldn't trust her ears because they were pulling up a sound from so far back in her memory it couldn't be real. She almost didn't dare to look, but then when she did the tears in her eyes were instant, drawn up from the deepest well of her broken heart.

"Hello, daughter..."

The sight in front of her was too pure for her to have ever dreamt up.

"Mother?" gasped Allura.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes when I start a chapter, I've run through every single thing in my head and know exactly what I'm about to write down. Other times I have a vague idea, maybe a funny gimmick to use, a place I want it to end, but nothing's clear. Sometimes during these latter times I'm sure it'll be a short chapter since I don't have anything big to say, but then all of a sudden, the character I'm writing let's me in and I find a depth of emotion I didn't know was hiding there and I may find myself tearing up as I write. This was one of those times. Well done, Allura. Thank you for letting me in.
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	19. The Seed of Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith stans, grab the klennex, we're going to be visiting some dark memories. Klancers, buckle up.

Chapter 19 - The Seed of Hope

Keith ran. He couldn't stay. He couldn't face Lance. He just needed to see his dad. See his face again.

'He knows he knows he knows...'

Even if Lance didn't know, was too dense to figure out Keith's feelings for him after being shown how Keith waited all night outside his healing pod, he'd figure it out soon.

"Keith!"

Lance was calling him, but he couldn't stop. He couldn't show his face again. He'd been so stupid, letting Lance get to him. Lance had been so open in that moment... holding his hand with that look on his face. He wasn't the goofball attempting to pick a fight with Keith every ten minutes. (He also wasn't a cute face from the Garrison that would drift into his mind during long quiet nights in the desert.) He was Lance, someone he could count on, someone who had his back and wasn't going anywhere and wanted to hold his hand and look at him in that soft way he'd seen Shiro look at Adam a hundred times. No one had ever looked at Keith like that. Not until that moment.  
Keith had never wanted to let anyone in, but Lance had snuck up on him. And he should've shut that feeling down. Shut it down when the first thing Lance did when he was out of the healing pod was hit on Allura. When literal hours later he was hitting on Nyma. When Lance wouldn't so much as admit that anything close to bonding happened between him and Keith. He. Should. Have. Let. It. Go.

It was a seed. Lance planted it. Keith could've let it die. But he watered it and he gave it sunlight and he protected it like it was precious. Not because he thought, 'this is a crush I want to have,' but out of a need to have something for himself because those feelings were always in him and needed someone to attach to. Keith had no idea of his capacity to love, but he was distinctly aware of his lack of capacity to be loved sustainably in return.

We don't choose who we fall for and it was always Keith's destiny to be hurt by those he loved.

"Keith..."

Keith heard his voice before he saw him. And the sound of it was so welcome in his state that he nearly began crying from relief.

"Keith, I need to talk to you."

Keith saw him, in front of him, solid and not grey. Keith slowed his pace to a walk as he approached his pop. He looked just like Keith remembered him...

"I need to talk to you too, dad," said Keith, stepping to him. He wanted to hug him, but he needed to hear this important message first, the thing so important he'd come back from the dead to tell Keith.

"It's time I gave you this..."

Keith stopped and watched as his dad pulled out... "My blade?" asked Keith, confused as his dad offered him a Blade of Marmora that looked identical to his own.

"A knife?"

Keith turned, hearing the voice behind him. What he saw broke his heart. "No..."

"What's it for dad?"

Keith watched in horror as his six-year-old self approached what he thought was his dad and accepted the knife.

"It's meaning will reveal itself to you one day. Until then you have to promise me to keep it safe."

"I promise, but..." Keith watched his nervous child-self. He knew too well the hesitation he felt. "Does this have something to do with my mom?"

[His dad bristled. "Keith, don't start this again..."

"But you haven't old me anything about her." Keith's childhood living room was coming into focus around him. "Please, dad! I just want to know something. Anything!"

"She left," said his dad. "And she ain't coming back. That's all you need to know."]

Keith began shaking, his arms crossing across his chest, trying to keep his breath steady. Trying to keep from crying.

"I'm sorry," said Lance's voice, close to him now. "I tried to warn you."

"Leave me alone," said Keith, swallowing back on that bitter lump in his throat. Keith just wanted Lance to hurry up and abandon him already. Like everyone does.

[The living room was still there. Keith was still standing in it, but his dad was gone. Now he could see a lump on the couch, under a blanket. Himself as a child, who would so often fall asleep there waiting for his dad to get some from work.

There was a knock on the door. Keith watched his sleepy self get up off the couch. He was older than before and when Keith realized the age, he was struck with dread.

Little Keith opened the door and there stood his dad's Fire Chief.]

"No," gasped Keith. "Not this one." Maybe he could've gone and kicked the memory away like he'd just watched Lance do, but Keith was frozen.

["Wha... what's going on?" Little Keith asked the Fire Chief. "Where's my dad?"

"I'm sorry, Keith, but something happened to your dad last night. There was a fire and we'd gotten everyone out, but one kid. We all told him not to go back in... He saved the kid, Keith, but your dad didn't make it out. He died a hero."

"No!"]

"No!" Keith's own cries mixed with his child-self as they both collapsed to their knees.

The scene burst apart, blown up by Keith's anguish.

"I'm so sorry, Keith." Keith felt Lance's hand on his shoulder.

Keith pushed it off as he stood up to face Lance. "Why are you still here? I told you to go!"

"I'm not going without you," said Lance.

"Then I'll leave," said Keith, "I'm going to do you a favour and stay away."

Keith couldn't read if it was hurt or shock on Lance's face. What did it matter? "I didn't... I never..."

Keith didn't want to wait for Lance to come up with a lie. He turned to go only to be hit again by another memory. It was like walking out your front door without realizing you're stepping into a downpour. The memory was on him with no warning, in full-colour, surrounding him.

[Keith's seventeen-year-old self walked with Shiro across the launch pad. The ship that would take Shiro to Kerberos loomed above them.

"He should be here," said Keith.

"Adam and I said our goodbyes privately," said Shiro.

"So you said," said Keith, looking away.

"No, I meant just yesterday," said Shiro. "We're still on good terms even if we're not together."

Keith stayed silent.

"Look, Keith, I've been waiting for a good time to bring this up, but I don't think there is a right time. I heard back from the adoption agency..."

"They're not letting you adopt me," said Keith, finishing the hard truth so Shiro didn't have to.

Shiro sighed heavily. "I guess a single gay man who only spends half his time on planet Earth isn't their idea of an ideal guardian."

"They're wrong," said Keith, trying to keep his disappointment under wraps. Shiro put his hand on Keith shoulder and it motivated Keith to finally look him in the eye.

"Hey, it doesn't matter if we have a piece of paper to prove it. We're family. We decide that. Not them. Just us."  
Shiro folded Keith into a hug and Keith clung to him.]

Keith willed it to stop there. To end on a high note and release him from watching his life flash before his eyes, but it wasn't going to be easy on him.

Did he blink? Was that how the scene changed?

[He was in the Garrison barrack common room. He watched himself walk in to have his attention grabbed by a group of his fellow students gathered around the TV.

"They're all dead?" said one of them. "All three from the Kerberos mission?"

Keith froze, colour draining from his face.

"The pilot crashed the ship," said a familiar voice. The boy turned his head to confirm it was Lance. "Wasn't Shiro the pilot? Hey..." Lance noticed Keith standing behind them, looking horror-struck. "Are you –"

Keith ran out before Lance could finish.

The scene changed again. This time they came in, in the middle.

[It was Iverson's office and Keith was in a rage. "Why are you lying? Stop lying!"

Iverson was scolding him, "Cadet, you need to calm down. That is an order!"

"Sir, I came as soon as I heard." It was Adam coming into the office. He looked at Keith. "Keith, it's time to go. Will you come with me?"

"Do you know what they're saying?" raged Keith. "What he's having him say? Pilot error! Pilot error? Does that sound like Shiro?"

"I know you're hurting, Keith," said Adam, calmly. "We both are."

"Bullsh*t!" yelled Keith. "You made it very clear you don't care about Shiro!"

Adam was keeping his composer. "Not marrying someone and not caring about someone are not the same thing. Listen, Keith. I know this is a hard time for both of us, but I want you to know I'm still your family and I'm still here. I'm going to apply to adopt you myself."

This made Keith laugh, sharp and bitter. "Like they'd let a single f*gg*t adopt a teenage boy."

"Oh Keith..." muttered Adam, disappointment spreading across his face.

"Cadet," said Iverson, his tone sharp. "Go to the barracks and clean out your bunk."

"Iverson, please...," began Adam. "He didn't mean that."

"I'm sorry, but the Galaxy Garrison School has a zero tolerance policy on hate speech. Keith, you're expelled."

"Whatever," said Keith, turning to go.

"Wait," said Adam, directing this at Iverson. "He'll apologize. Just let me talk to him."

Adam followed Keith out into the hall. "Keith, don't throw everything away just because you're hurting."

"I don't need this school," said Keith. "I'm going to find out what really happened to Shiro and get him back."

Adam stared at Keith. "Keith... Takashi is gone. He died on the mission."

"Yeah, from pilot error," said Keith, sarcastically. "Does that sound like the truth to you? Shiro is the best pilot of your generation. Do you think he'd fail like that?"

Adam was careful as he said, "We both know he wasn't at full health. His arm spasms had been getting worse..."

"You really think he got himself and the Holts killed," said Keith, shaking his head.

"Accidents happen, Keith. It's a part of life."

"I know that!" shouted Keith. "I know that better than anyone, but I also know Shiro and he's still out there!"

"He's not!" said Adam, matching Keith's tone. "Keith, do not waste your time! You need to accept he's dead!"

Adam's words hit him like a mac truck. Quietly Keith said, "Shiro is the only person who ever believed in me... And I guess I'm the only one who believes in him."

Keith turned and walked away.]

Keith didn't know when he'd dropped to the ground, but there he was and he was crying. He was sobbing and he couldn't stop. Seeing it all, losing them all over again, he couldn't take it. This is what his life was. Losing and losing over and over again.

"Keith, please..." How? How was Lance still baring witness to this? "I know you're hurting, but can you please just come with me?"

Keith didn't answer. He didn't have the energy to answer. It all hurt so much. He just wished it would end. That he could end because he couldn't keep living with his pain everyday.

[Deep space spread out around them. Keith recognized that cruiser. He recognized the rebel ships before he found himself inside the personal galra craft, looking at himself. They were failing to penetrate the shields of the Galra cruiser. Failing to deactivate the weapon attached to it. Failing to stop Haggar from detonating the bomb on Naxzela.

Naxzela...

Matt appeared on Keith's vid screen. "We'll never penetrate those shields!"

Keith watched as realization dawned on his own face.

"Maybe not with our weapons."

Keith thrust his ship forward.

"Wait, Keith, what are you doing? Keith, no!"

Keith sped forward, heading directly for the shield. He closed his eyes, anticipating the impact, anticipating the end...

A flash of light - an explosion! Keith thought he'd caused it until he realized he was alive and fine. He opened his eyes and pulled up before hitting the damaged cruiser, it's surface erupting in explosions. He flew to safety and spotted what had actually delivered that blow to the cruiser.

"Naxzela is returning to normal," said Coran's voice over the comm. "You did it!"

"Good work, Keith," came Shiro's voice next.

"It wasn't me," said Keith, still in shock. "It was Lotor. The cannon on his ship was the only thing powerful enough to take down that shield."

The damaged cruiser took off, fast as the speed of light. Keith couldn't will himself to chase it down. He heard Lotor's voice come over the comm-link, but his brain wouldn't focus on the words. He'd noticed a trembling in his fingers. It traveled to his hands, up his arms, until his whole body was shaking. Then Keith was weeping, burying his face in his hands, unable to process what he'd almost done, what he'd tried to do...]

"Keith..." Lance's voice broke into the vision, blowing it away so Keith found himself kneeling in the grey again. "I can't believe you did that..."

This was the final blow. The disappointment in Lance's voice. It would end Keith.

"And you went off on me for saving Allura, saying I needed value my life more, but you tried to sacrifice yourself like that..."

"A life for a life doesn't make sense," said Keith, surprised he could still speak. "It's what my dad did wrong. I wasn't saving just one. Voltron was in the blast radius of Naxzela. I would've saved five by sacrificing one. The numbers added up."

"Keith, when I pushed Allura out of the way, I acted on instinct. I didn't think it through, but you... You did the math and decided you deserved to die?"

"So you get to die for the person you love and I don't?" Keith's voice came out as a yell. He didn't know he even had that much fire left in him. Keith looked at Lance's anguished face then turned away again. He'd said it, hadn't he? It was hidden, but he'd done it. He'd told Lance how he felt.

"Keith...," repeated Lance, his voice sounding so weak, so resigned. He was giving up on Keith. Eventually he'd just go. He'd leave. He'd leave like his mother had and Shiro had...

"I don't understand..." Lance's voice was breaking and Keith felt a surge of anger towards Lance. Why should this make him cry? Lance didn't know the beginning of pain. Not with his huge loving family and his beautiful princess...

"Of course you don't understand," Keith croaked out, surprising himself that he would even deem to say anything to Lance at this point. "You've never lost anyone..." This brought Keith down on to his hands. His sobs rocked his body, tearing falling onto the grey ground.

"You're right," said Lance. "How could I..."

Then Keith felt it, Lance's arms wrapping around his front, gently pulling him back off his hands, leaning Keith's back against Lance's chest as Lance held him from behind. "I can't understand," said Lance, his voice now directly in Keith's ear. "Because the only person I ever lost came back. You came back to me, didn't you Keith? Tell me you won't leave me again."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh! I've been waiting so long to write this part! Ahhh!


	20. Puppeteer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Team Punk vs. Medusotaur! Final round!

Chapter 20 – Puppeteer  


“So now it’s destroying the maze?” yelled Pidge as she ran, her and Hunk were making random turns to get away, but the Medusotaur just kept smashing through walls in order to come after them and thanks to Hunk it now had the power to turn them to stone so they couldn’t even turn to face it and fight. “What was the point of the maze?”

“I don’t know,” said Bored, popping up near Pidge and floating beside her as she ran. “I didn’t make it, remember?”

“But you said you were testing us! Is getting through the maze the test?”

“If it were then she’s winning,” said Bored, nodding back to the Medusotaur that had just busted through another wall.

“What about beating the Medusotaur, would that be a pass?”

“Would it?” asked Bored, looking at Hunk. Hunk felt put on the spot.

“I really wish everyone would stop looking at me for ideas!” yelled Hunk, side-sliding and taking a tight corner.

“If I were you,” continued Bored. “I’d figure out a way to pass soon. The furry in the basement is getting close to going poof.”

“Lance!” gasped Pidge at the same time that Hunk gasped, “Keith!”

“Interesting,” said Bored, “Maybe they’re both furries…” Then she popped out of existence like she hadn’t just delivered the news that one of their friends was about to experience soul-death.

And to make matters worse, they’d just hit a dead end.

“Back track!” yelled Pidge, but the sound of the Medusotaur approaching made them freeze. “We can’t keep running like this. You need to think of an advantage for us.”

“How?” asked Hunk, he would first need someone to explain how he had done all of this so far before he knew how to fix it.

“However, you already did all of this to start.”

“The ideas weren’t mine,” confessed Hunk. “You kept coming up with them, I’m just imagining them.”

“I didn’t come up with mazes and bouncy castles and taco trucks.”

“But you came up with the idea of a test and a soft landing and a location…”

Pidge smacked her forehead. “So really this whole time we’ve been playing improv with audience participation.”

“Yeah, now give me some good prompts so we can beat this thing and get to our furry friend before it’s too late!”

The Medusotaur roaded, it was literally around the corner from them now.

“Alright,” said Pidge, setting her face. “First we need a way to block our vision so we won’t turn to stone.

With that theirs paladin helmets dropped onto their heads. The visor slide into place. It was dark for a second, but then the helmet projected a highly pixilated image of what was in front of Hunk. And just in time for a pixilated Medusotaur to come barreling around the corner.

“We can’t fight her here. We need the higher ground!” yelled Pidge, as she ducked a Medusotaur attack. The thing swung its giant bull arm out and when it didn’t connect with Pidge, it smashed into the wall, crumbling part of it but knocking some stone blocks lose. Instead of going crashing to the ground, they floated up, and made a makeshift staircase, one block per step.

“Nice, Hunk!” cheered Pidge and they both scrambled up the blocks until they were thirty feet up in the air. They turned to see the Medusotaur trying to climb up, but falling back off as its bull feet weren’t agile enough to balance on such a tiny step. “That won’t hold it off for long. What we need next is a clear objective. Some way to pass the test.”

“But I thought defeating that thing was how,” said Hunk, peering down.

“Knowing your imagination, if we killed that thing it would just come back seconds later as a Zombie Medusotaur. No. We need a clearly defined win, something un-mistakeable. And something we can accomplish in a hurry.”

It seemed to be happening as Hunk thought of it. Stone blocks rose from the damaged maze and formed themselves in a course, lining up single file with gaps to jump over and different levels. And in those gaps some had water underneath and others just a drop to who knows where. Blue sky stretched above them with white puffy clouds, uniform in nature. In the distance, at the end of the course he saw a castle and, in front of it, a flag pole.

“Capture the flag is the objective,” said Hunk.

“Hunk,” gasped Pidge and Hunk worried his imagination had screwed up again. “This is so cool!” Pidge cheered. “This is exactly why we’re best friends. I love your brain!”

“I’m so glad you like it.”

“Like it? I’m so pumped! And with the helmets making it all look 8 bit pixelated… man, you’ve outdone yourself.”

Hunk beamed.

The Medusotaur roared and it sounded closer than it should. They turned and saw the creature was now carefully using the stone blocks as a staircase to reach them. At least it was moving slow while it found its footing.

“Let’s move!” Pidge and Hunk started running along the narrow stone path. They leapt over the first gap. Hunk saw something shiny on the next level up and leapt up there. “What are you doing?”

“Collecting coins,” replied Hunk, leaping up and catching the coins. They disappeared with a ‘ching!’ and Hunk saw a coin counter appear in the corner of his visor screen.

“But why would you need to… Never mind,” said Pidge, accepting it was Hunk’s world and she was just running for her life in it.

The Medusotaur roared, which was a combination of the actual mouth of the half-man half-bull and all the remaining snakes screaming at once. Hunk looked back to see it wasn’t walking cautiously anymore, but ramping up to a run. 

“I’m sorry!” yelled Hunk. “It’s found its footing!”

“Then we need weapons!” yelled Pidge.

The prompt created an image in Hunk’s mind that popped into reality. Ahead of him Hunk saw a box with a big question mark on it. “Okay!” Hunk jumped, knocking his head into the bottom of the box. Out popped a large yellow mushroom with red spots.

“Oh, I need that one!” said Pidge, turning on a dime and doubling back to meet the mushroom as it fell from down to her level. The mushroom absorbed into Pidge and she blew up in size, nearly doubling her height.

Hunk jumped down beside her. “Hey, we’re the same height now!”

“Yep! Let’s get more power ups!” said Pidge, taking off at a run as the Medusotaur was barreling behind them.

They leapt over a water gap and kept running along the stone blocks. There was another gap coming up. Hunk jumped, but he’d miscalculated and then he was falling…

“Hunk!” he heard Pidge scream.

There was no ground to hit. Hunk fell into all black, but then as he was falling it started to lighten and he was falling through blue until he saw stone blocks below him and he dropped down right beside Pidge again.

“Ow!” cried Hunk upon impact.

“What?!” gasped Pidge. “What happened? I thought you’d poofed!”

“I had enough coins for an extra life.”

Pidge hugged Hunk, her larger size meaning she wasn’t hugging his mid-drift for once. Their moment was cut short by the shaking caused by the Medusotaur stepping onto the same stretch of block they were standing on.

“I’m out of coins so we better run!” yelled Hunk, pulling Pidge along. They jumped over the gap together and this time he’d judged the distance right and they landed on the other side.

“Whoop whoop!” called Bored. Hunk looked up to see her sitting on a cloud, cheering them on.

“I see power ups!” said Pidge, leading the way, stepping on more blocks to launch herself at another question mark block, smacking it with her hand. Hunk went low, ducking down to another level and karate chopping a question block.

“What’d you get?” asked Pidge, jumping down in front of him. She was engulfed in flames.

“Let’s see,” said Hunk, stretching out his now blue hands as he ran. He turned around and blew ice out of his hands back at the Medusotaur - which was at the time trying to leap on him from behind.

The Medusotaur screamed, being forced back by the blast. Pidge spun and shot fireballs out of her fists at the beast ,which knocked it back further, making it wince in pain.

“These powers aren’t enough to kill it,” warned Pidge, picking up her pace.

“We don’t need to kill it, we need to out run it.” The castle with the flagpole wasn’t much further. If they really booted it maybe they’d make it. But even as he thought this, he felt the vibrations as the Medusotaur gained on them.

“I have an idea,” said Pidge and Hunk waited for her to give him a prompt so his imagination could bring it to fruition. “Follow me!” And with that Pidge jumped into a giant vertical pipe.

Hunk leapt in after and found himself dropping into a large stone room. He could hear the Medusotaur travelling down the pipe to meet them. “Is your plan to get cornered?” asked Hunk.

“We need to face it before our power-ups time out,” explained Pidge. “This pocket world might corner us, but we might be able to corner it first.”

The Medusotaur dropped down out of the pipe and shook the whole chamber.

“Oh! It looks like the boss level!” said Bored, hanging out of the bottom of the pipe like a bat.

“Care to join us?” asked Hunk.

“No thanks,” called Bored. “I can’t risk going poof. You have fun though!”

“Let’s go!” shouted Pidge, shooting her fireballs at the Medusotaur. The snakes on its head caught fire. The noise of two-dozen snakes screaming as they roast was earsplitting.

Hunk took his hands off his ears so he could take a shot at the Medusotaur that was stumbling towards them, now on fire.

“Shoot at the wall behind us!” ordered Pidge.

Hunk didn’t know why, but he spun anyway and fired his ice powers at the wall, blasting the thing with a sheet of ice. He could hear Pidge behind him, launching fire balls at the Medusotaur and as his ice grew thicker, he could see the two of them in the reflection it created. But then his ice sputtered out. He looked down at his hands to see the blue fade back to normal.

“Power-ups timed out!” called Bored. “And there’s no question blocks down here!”

Hunk turned to Pidge, whose flames flickered out in front of him. “Pidge, what do we do?” The Medusotaur was now the one engulfed in flames and was getting ready to charge towards them.

“We wait three seconds longer,” said Pidge, grabbing hold of Hunk to keep him still. “Three…” The Medusotaur started charging… “Two…” It was getting close enough to feel the heat off of it… “One!” Pidge yanked Hunk and they both lunged to the side. 

Hunk turned, expecting to see the Medusotaur turning to come at them, but instead he saw the beast standing still, looking at the sheet of ice, at its own reflection. The Medusotaur turned to stone, the curse spreading from its head to its toes.

“We got it!” cheered Hunk.

“Hold on,” said Pidge, “Give me a boost.”

Hunk cupped his hands. Pidge stepped up and he launched her up into the air. She twisted through a summersault and came down hard on the Medusotaur’s head before bounding back off. A crack appeared in the stone where Pidge had hit it. The crack spread to the ground and soon the entire beast was crumbling to dust.

“No Zombusotaur,” said Pidge. 

“Good thinking,” cheered Hunk, giving her a high five as he watched her shrink from his height back to normal height.

“Good thinking on the pocket world,” gushed Pidge.

“Um, Pidge, I didn’t imagine that one. It must’ve been you.”

“Wait… really?” asked Pidge, her eyes lighting up.

“Okay, yeah you thought of one thing and I created an entire world, but yeah, be proud.” Hunk strolled over to the pipe and leapt up, letting the thing transport him back to the surface.

Hunk and Pidge jogged the rest of the way to the castle where Hunk gave Pidge another boost so she could leap up and knock the flag down the pole, signaling the end of test – objective met!

Hunk heard clapping and looked to see Bored in the doorway of the castle. “You pass, Team Punk! I’ll take you to the astral plane now.” She gestured to the entrance of the castle.

“Wait. That’s the prize?” asked Pidge, outraged. “You’re going to play tour guide to the place we were already heading?”

“No,” said Bored. “I’m going to award one of you the prize when we get there…. At least I hope I get to…”

“What?” growled Pidge.

“What about Keith and Lance?” asked Hunk, concerned. “Didn’t you say one of them might go poof?”

“Oh right, the dummies in the basement,” said Bored. “Let me check on them again…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	21. In the Absence of fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance shows Keith the one memory he didn't want him to see. Lance knocks on Keith's walls and they start to fall.

Chapter 21 - In the absence of fear

Lance couldn’t stop apologizing. For seeing all these deeply personal moments from Keith’s life, for knowing Keith had to live through them – carry them with him - for not knowing how to comfort Keith as they all played out...

Lance was crying. He couldn’t help it. He hadn’t known and he was so sorry.

Lance hated what this was doing to Keith, but in a way he was glad he was there to bare witness. Understanding was dawning on Lance now. This is what Keith had been through. This was every one he loved disappearing on him. Lance understood why Keith was standoffish now. Of course Keith pushed people away just like he’d watched Keith push away Adam. How much trauma and heartbreak could fit into one boy? How could Keith ever find it within himself to trust again? No wonder Keith thought he should sacrifice himself for the team for… who he loved?

It dawned on Lance that he’d been going about things all wrong. Standing ten feet back from Keith and waving his arms wasn’t the way to get Keith to notice him. Keith was never going to come to Lance. Keith was never going to drop hints to let Lance know it was safe to approach. Keith had walls. Lance needed to walk on up and… knock? It had worked before.

Keith had every reason to be afraid, but Lance didn’t and he needed to be brave especially when he saw what was happening to Keith. The way his sorrow was making his body stutter. Keith was letting himself slip away and Lance needed to get past being afraid and get down in the dirt with Keith, to reach around and hold him. Hold Keith like he’d imagined all those times while pretending his brain wasn’t going there. And he must’ve thought of it because his mullet felt so soft and familiar against his cheek. He must’ve memorized that feeling when Keith had carried him to the healing pod. He must’ve drawn it up late at night, holding it gently in his thoughts, refusing to look at it directly, scared if he looked at it directly it would disappear. Now it was Keith who was threatening to disappear.

"I can't understand.” Lance didn’t know if he was too late. He could feel Keith flickering in his arms like a light during a storm, threatening to go out. "Because the only person I ever lost came back. You came back to me, didn't you Keith? Tell me you won't leave me again."

“Lance,” sputtered Keith. “What do you –?”

“I want you to see something,” said Lance. A memory washed in around them…

[“Shiro, can I ask you something?” Lance walked into the lounge.

“Of course, Lance. What’s up?” said Shiro, putting down the tablet he’d been looking at.

“Uh… you’re gay, right?” said Lance, sitting next to Shiro on the couch.

“Last I checked.”

Lance paused, scrunching up his eyebrows. “Oh, so it can change?”

Shiro looked confused. “No it… Sorry, Lance, what did you want to ask me about?”

“I guess it’s about being gay and how you knew.”

“Oh well…,” began Shiro, but Lance was already cutting him off with one of his famous rambles.

“Because a friend of mine - and I know sometimes people say ‘a friend of mine’ when they really mean themselves, but I definitely mean a friend and not myself – he thought he was straight, but then that friend has started to have feelings for a boy.”

“I see,” said Shiro. “I’m sure that’s confusing for… your friend.”

“Yeah, really confusing. Especially since he’s only ever had crushes on girls before. Do you think he’s turned gay?”

“Lance, are you… or your friend… familiar with the concept of bisexuality?”

“When you’re attracted to boys and girls, right?”

“That’s right. Do you think that might fit with what your friend is experiencing?”

“No, I don’t think so,” said Lance. “I mean, this is his first crush on a boy.”

“And?”

“And wouldn’t it be equal? Like he’d like a girl then a boy then a girl then a boy. I mean, this isn’t what bisexuality would feel like. I mean, like what he’s feeling.”

“Lance, I’m not going to pretend to be an expert, but I believe however your friend feels is what bisexuality feels like. Attraction is a spectrum after all. There’s a place for your friend on that spectrum. And on behalf of the queer community, we’re happy to have him and hope he can find pride in who he loves.”

“I think that settles it then,” said Lance, getting up to go.

“Glad I could help.”

“Yeah, since he mostly likes girls, he’ll just date girls and he’ll be straight and there’s nothing to worry about. Thanks, Shiro.” Lance went to make a quick exit.

“Now hold on, Lance,” said Shiro, throwing out an arm to stop him. “Let me be perfectly clear because I don’t think you understood me at all. You don’t pick your sexuality and who you fall in love with, is never a choice.”]

Lance had tried to choose. He'd made jokes and hid his true feelings because he was scared. Why? Because he didn’t want to be judged for not liking the beautiful alien princess, but the scrappy, emo, mulleted boy instead? And when he thought about it, why shouldn’t Lance be proud to like Keith? He was the greatest pilot in their generation and he’d grown into an incredible leader. He was Lance's fearless leader with the grizzled body of a Korean underwear model and… that ended somewhere different than where it began… The only strike against Keith was his gender and for quiznak’s sake Lance was the only one holding that against him! It’s not like anyone else on the team would give a damn about Lance liking a boy so why was Lance being bigoted towards himself?

“I’m sorry I couldn’t say it before,” said Lance as the memory drifted away, leaving the two boys alone in the darkening grey “I was scared, Keith, but now I’m only scared of losing you.”

“Couldn’t say what?” asked Keith.

Lance couldn't wait any longer to knock on Keith's walls in hopes that Keith would let them fall...

“I didn’t choose to feel this way,” said Lance. “But if I had a choice it would still be you. I wanna be with you, Keith,” said Lance. “It was always you.”

*******

Those words… Keith didn’t know his heart could swell like this. “I want you to stay,” continued Lance, and now Keith could hear that he was crying. He could feel hot tears on his neck as Lance pressed his cheek there. “I want us to be together.”

Keith couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It had to be a dream, but Lance’s arms around him felt so real. Could Lance really feel he same for him? Keith felt their fingers entwine as Lance pressed their hands firmly to Keith’s chest. What Lance had just said had taken his breath away. “Please don’t go,” begged Lance.

“I don’t want to go,” Keith croaked, the truth of it rocking his body into another fit of sobs. “But I don’t know if I can stay.” Keith was fading. He felt it now. Felt his entire being threatening to go out. Had he been letting go? Had he given up? Was it too late? “I wanna be with you too, Lance,” cried Keith. “I don’t think I can. I – I think I’m leaving.” Keith could taste his own tears.

“It’s okay…,” said Lance. “I’ll go with you…”

“Lance, no,” protested Keith, but he could now feel it spreading to Lance, his arms no longer so solid around him.

“If it’s the only way we can be together, I’ll follow you,” said Lance.

Keith didn’t have the strength to argue anymore, he held tight to Lance’s hands, those entwined fingers the only part of either of them that felt solid anymore. There was noise in his ears like static from an old broken television and looming darkness around them.

Keith wished he’d kissed Lance. It was his only regret. But as he thought it he felt Lance’s cheek, solid again, leave his neck. Keith turned his head and found Lance’s face right there.

“We’ll always be together,” mumbled Lance. The hoarseness in his voice awakened something in the pit of Keith’s stomach. “Even if always is ending.”

Their noses knocked before their lips met. And… Lance was kissing him. That annoying, dumb, incredibly beautiful and sweet blue boy was kissing Keith. Even if Keith was done, he was glad he had this… this little piece of heaven in the middle of hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	22. Flame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Concerned for the paladins, Coran enlists Krolia, Matt, and Romelle to help him figure out what's wrong with them.

Chapter 22 - Flame

Red and Blue clung to each other and their inner lights flickered, threatening to go out. But when one would go, the other would re-light their flame and vice versa. And so the flame danced like this, passing light back and forth between the two until it merged into one bright glow, piercing through the dark.

**********

Krolia studied her son’s still face at close range.

Near her Matt was poking at Pidge while Romelle was snapping her fingers in front of Hunk's face.

“See,” said Coran. “I told you. They’re unresponsive. It’s strange. I don’t like what this Seyoncé’s done to them.”

“Seyoncé?” repeated Matt, stepping out of the circle of entranced paladins.

“Yeah, it’s all here in this invite,” said Coran, pulling out the handwritten note Lance had pushed under his door.

“Oh, I got one of those,” said Romelle, coming over to look. “But I don’t read English so it all looked like scribbles to me.”

Matt took the note from Coran so he could read it himself.

“Of course I barely read Altean either," continued Romelle. "The education system was pretty limited in the colony. Lotor liked to keep the masses uneducated. Help prevent an uprising by keeping us ignorant.”

“This word is pronounced séance,” said Matt. “It’s where you attempt to contact the dead to communicate with them. It’s something humans do, but it’s always a hoax.” Matt looked at the Alteans who were starring at him and remembered that magic is real… “Okay, it might be real.”

“Well, why didn’t they tell me they wanted to contact the dead?” asked Coran.

“They did…”

“I have three different Altean methods for contacting the dead and only all of three require a blood sacrifice. The trick is to draw blood for your foot instead of your hand so your hand remains useful. Of course it’s always difficult to walk the next day...”

“If they’re contacting the dead,” said Romelle. “How come they’re asleep and there’s no ghosties here?” She looked around, narrowing her eyes.

Matt flipped the note over. “Oh okay, so they were looking to travel to the astral plane.”

“That means their quintessence isn’t in their bodies!” gasped Coran. “They’re just empty vessels!”

“Maybe I’m glad I missed the invite then,” said Romelle.

“Everything okay?” asked Matt, noticing how Krolia was taking her son’s pulse.

“A moment ago Keith’s blood pressure appeared to be dropping,” said Krolia. “But now… It’s normal. Perhaps I read it wrong, but then this one…” She turned to Lance. “Is displaying mild signs of human arousal.”

“Which for Lance is…” said Matt, “…perfectly normal. I don’t think we have anything to worry about. I mean the idea of their souls not being in their bodies is freaky, but considering all they’ve been through and come out fine, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“They could never wake up and we’d become the new paladins,” said Romelle. “I call the head!”

“Dibs on the head,” said Matt too late. “Aw quiznak… I call an arm!”

“I call an arm!” said Krolia and Coran at the same time.

“So our Voltron will have three arms, a head, and no legs?” said Coran, holding both his arms out and pointing his fingers like guns.

Matt went behind him and added his arm by sticking it under Coran’s armpit.

“And I’ll form the head,” said Romelle, deepening her voice. She climbed up on Matt’s back and held her arms up in a circle to create the illusion of a giant head.

“I think it’s best we get some sleep,” said Krolia, shutting down the silliness. “We can check on them in the morning.”

Romelle, Coran, and Matt shared a look then started following Krolia back to the Garrison.

“Unless…,” said Matt, stopping himself and looking back at the circle of paladins. Coran and Romelle stopped and leaned in. “We take the opportunity to pull some slumber party pranks.”

“What are slumber party pranks?” asked Romelle.

“Oh you know,” said Matt. “Writing on their faces, sticking their hand in a bowl of water to see if it makes them pee, putting shaving cream on their hand then tickling their face with a feather, freezing their bras…”

“I don’t believe my son is wearing a bra,” said Krolia.

Matt shrugged. “We’ll improvise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	23. Queen Melenor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who was Melenor in the past? Was she the ornamental Queen? Or did Allura's battle ready spirit come from somewhere?

“Mother,” gasped Allura, taking in the vision before her. Melenor was in her finest splendor, dressed in her most formal robes (in pink, her mother’s signature colour) and wearing the crown of Altea, reserved only for the most auspicious of occasions.

“Allura, darling,” said Melenor.

“Oh mother!” cried Allura running towards her and being swept into her embrace. “I had no idea I would see you. I’ve missed you so much and so much has happened since you passed.”

“I know, Allura,” said Melenor, holding her daughter close. “I’ve been able to see all of it. As much as I wish to hear the story in your own words, I cannot for we do not have much time and there are things you need to hear.”

“What is it, mother?” asked Allura.

“I want to say that I am proud of you,” said Melenor. Allura felt tears well up in her eyes. “I want to… But I cannot.”

“What?” asked Allura, leaning back from the hug.

“Young lady, I need you to explain exactly what you think you are doing,” Melenor said sternly. Then she threw her arms up in the air, exasperated and said, “Never mind. I know the answer, you’re acting just like your father.”

“I am acting like father? How?” asked Allura, still in shock.

********

10,000 years ago…

“Stay in formation,” ordered Melenor over the commlink. “We are approaching the Galran fleet.”

Melenor could see it growing closer on the screen of her Altean fighter ship. The Galran fleet outnumbered hers two to one, but that wouldn’t matter as it would all come down to strategy.

“Need a little help, your majesty,” came Gyrgan’s voice over the commlink.

“It is Captain in this context, but yes, I will always accept the aid of the Lions,” responded Melenor, her chances of winning this battle had improved. She saw Yellow, Green, and Blue fly into her peripheral view. “Where is my husband?”

“Flying the castleship,” answered Trigel. “Standing by as back up.”

Melenor would’ve rather had him on the frontlines with her, however, that was not her call. “I’ll lead Exus squad. Yellow, you take Plexis squad. Green, Ceedus. Blue, Flee.”

The Lions followed Melenor’s orders, peeling off to take over the lead of their assigned squadrons. Melenor pushed forward, engaging with the first wave of Galran figthers, leading the charge against them.

“…heavy losses…”

“…major hit…”

“…jaydus squad has been wiped out…”

Melenor barked orders at her troops, redirecting ships to where their weak spots were.

Blaytz’s voice came over the commlink. “Flee squad is surrounded… Please, if I die, get a message to my husband. Tell him I love him.”

“You say that every time and you haven’t died yet,” said Trigel.

“Hang on a tick, Blaytz,” said Melenor. “I’m bringing Exus bailto you out.”

Melenor did a turn and led her squad to fire upon the Galra fighters corning Blaytz’s squad. More cries of distress came over the commlink. The losses in this battle were already great and climbing. Melenor barked orders to her troops, moving them to the best positions she could. They would make a dent in the Galran infantry, even if it were the last thing they did. 

“Retreat,” ordered King Alfor, his voice coming over the commlink.

“Ignore him,” said Melenor, fury entering her voice. “He is not your Captain. We must continue our attack.”

“We must retreat. That is an order from the King!”

Melenor knew she was no longer an authority as she watched her troops fall back. Furious, she pushed her accelerator stick forward and charged into the middle of the Galran fleet. She would do it alone, if she had to. 

“Melenor no!” yelled Alfor’s voice. When she ignored him she heard him say, “Paladins, stop my wife!”

Thye appeared in flashes of blue, green, and yellow, blocking her ship, grabbing her with an grappling hook, towing her back, her protests falling on death ears.

 

When Melenor entered the bridge of the castleship, she ripped off her helmet and hocked it at her husband. Alfor caught it, the force of the throw making him stumble back a few steps.

“How dare you, Alfor! How dare you!”

“Melenor, can we not do this in public?” asked Alfor, looking around the bridge at all the Alteans that had turned to watch with wide-eyed expressions.

“You embarrassed me in front of my troops so it is only fitting that I embarrass you in front of your people!”

“Our people,” corrected Alfor.

“Oh, is it ours?” asked Melenor, sarcastically. “Because this partnership does not feel very equal if you are able to order me back to the castle.”

“Everyone out,” said Alfor, sighing. When the last Altean had left he said, “You would’ve died.”

“Then I would’ve died the death of a warrior fighting for the glory of Altea!”

“Is keeping you amongst the living too much to ask?” said Alfor.

“To ask that is to disrespect Altean tradition,” snapped Melenor, ignoring the softness in Alfor’s tone.” You know how our royal line works. The Alchemist heir,” said Melenor, gesturing to Alfor, “Must marry Altean’s greatest warrior,” Melenor gestured to herself, “To ensure that Altea’s leadership is made of the twin pillars of power and bravery. This is how Altea has prospered for millennia. Yet you are squandering our legacy by holding me back and allowing Zarkon to take over territory.”

“I am not holding you back,” disagreed Alfor.

“Every single mission I have led, you have forced a retreat! Zarkon will soon take over the universe at this rate!”

“And the solution is to send wave after wave of my people to the slaughter?” asked Alfor. “To let my own wife sacrifice herself in battle.”

“I was your wife during times of peace when I was content to play the ornamental Queen, sitting by your side on a golden thrown, but during war times I become the Captain of the Guard. That is our world’s tradition. That is my duty and your impulse to protect me is stopping me from fulfilling my destiny.”

“Because the fight cannot be won,” argued Alfor. “Zarkon cannot be stopped. Not without Voltron.”

“Then let us form Voltron,” said Melenor, falling into an old fight.

“Zarkon was the Black Paladin.”

“Then we replace him.”

“It is not so simple. The quintessence of the lion reflects the quintessence of the paladin.”

“And in all of Altea you can’t find one person with the quintessence close enough to Zarkon’s? And not just Altea, we could search Rygnirath, Nalquod, or the Dalterion Belt or any number or our allies’ planets.”

“Even if we found a new Black Paladin, Blaytz’s abilities have been deteriorating since his husband was trapped behind enemy lines. He can barely fly Blue straight anymore. Our chances of forming Voltron…”

“You and Blaytz have the same problem,” said Melenor, quite boldly. “You forget to honour those we’ve lost by intensifying your fight. I lost Honerva and I fight in honour of her memory everyday. You lost Zarkon and everyday you fold in on yourself a little more.”

“Melenor,” said Alfor, stepping up to his wife, putting his hand on her cheek. “The last thing I want is to have to fight in your honour of your memory. I have too much to lose.”

“Oh, Alfor,” said Melenor. “You give your love too deeply. It has always been your downfall.”

Alfor sighed. “You make it sound as if you don’t love me.”

“Even if our marriage was decided by you, a fool hardy prince who pulled the victor of the Grestation Battles out of the Tarsand Pit, I have fallen in love with you, Alfor.” Alfor smiled. However, Melenor wasn’t finished. “But I swore to love my duty above all else and even now I keep my vow.”

 

Melenor knocked on her daugher’s door. “Come in,” called Allura.

“You’re not drunk on Nunvil, are you?” asked Melenor, peeking inside.

“Mother, that was one time,” said Allura. “I think I’ve learned my lesson.” She was sitting on her bedroom floor, holding one of the Space Mice up to her face.

“Oh daughter, I wish you wouldn’t play with those rodents.”

“Mother, they’re harmless and they are my friends.”

“You do not still think they speak to you, do you?” asked Melenor, coming to sit beside her adolescent daughter on the floor.

“I would only pretend that as a child,” giggled Allura. “They are more like pets now.”

“Allura,” said Melenor, her tone more serious now. “I want to give you this.” Melenor slid the diadem off her forehead and offered it to her daughter.

“You diadem,” said Allura, gingerly taking it from her mother’s hands. “But I’m not to receive one until my Womanhood Day.”

“Ideally yes,” said Melenor, “But I’ve come to realize that nothing is certain in times of war. And that it is unwise to wait until special ceremony to share one’s feelings.”

“Mother?”

Melenor wrapped her arms around her daughter. “Allura, you are the very embodiment of your father. You are adventurous and compassionate. You are a natural born leader and one day you will fully realize your gift for alchemy.”

“Thank you,” said Allura, blushing, not used to such kind words from her mother. Affection was more her father’s department.

“But I want you to remember,” said Melenor, now taking Allura by the shoulders. “That you are made from me as well and inside you is a warrior, one with the drive to do whatever it takes to protect your people.”

Allura was speechless.

“Learn to fall in love with that duty, Allura. Learn to love the fight. It is the greatest thing you can do for Altean.”

“I shall try.”

“Remember. Altea is glory,” said Melenor, repeating the oath she learned in army training. “No peace can come without sacrifice. No life can begin without blood spilt. As long as one heart beats, Altea lives.”

“Altea lives,” repeated Allura as she watched her mother stand. Melenor looked at her expectantly so Allura slide the diadem onto her forehead.

“You look royal, daughter. Remember, I do love you.”

“I love you too,” said Allura as she watched her mother leave, confused by the intensity of their interaction.

********

Melenor moved silently through the darkened hall of the castleship. Once this was a well-traveled area, but Alfor had since blocked it off. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head, feeling the silkiness of the pink fabric. Pink – like the blood of her enemies mixing with the tears of their mourners.

“Your majesty? What are you doing down here?”

Melenor sighed and turned towards Coran. “Hoping not to be spotted. And very much hoping not to be recognized.”

“Then perhaps next time you shouldn’t wear your royal cloak over…” Coran’s eyes travelled downwards and he caught a glimpse of what was underneath the cloak. “Ah. So that is what you’re doing.”

“Coran, I need you to promise me not to go running to Alfor,” said Melenor, speaking slowly and clearly. “I need time to make my attempt and I’d rather my husband not order the paladins to drag me away again. No telling Alfor, that’s an order.”

“Umm,” said Coran, scratching the back of his head. “The problem is Alfor already ordered me to tell him if the Queen began acting erratic so I’m wondering if this qualifies as erratic behaviour. Feels like it does. So which order do I follow?”

“I suppose it comes down to who you are most loyal to,” said Melenor, already knowing the answer. “Coran…” Melenor put a hand on Coran’s shoulder. “I’m not so oblivious as to what Alfor means to you and I think, had Alfor been in a position to marry his soul mate…” Melenor drifted off, realizing some things didn’t need to be said. Some things were just understood.

“Your majesty, you’re too brash. What you’re saying isn’t true.”

“I am the Queen,” said Melenor, authority entering her voice. “I am never brash and whatever I say, becomes the truth as I am never wrong.”

“Yes, mum,” said Coran, embarrassed.

“And Coran,” said Melenor, tightening her grip on his shoulder. “If anything were ever to happen to me, act like his soul mate. Protect my family.”

“Something… may… happen to you?”

“If it were to,” said Melenor. “Take care of Alfor and help Allura reach her potential.”

“I will,” said Coran, something like sadness entering his voice.

“Good. Run away and pretend you did not see me,” ordered Melenor. “At least until the guilt overtakes you. Hopefully that will give me enough time.

********

The lights turned themselves on as Melenor entered the hanger. “Hello,” said Melenor walking up to the giant in the center of the room. Somehow the Black Lion looked so much larger than she’d remembered. “Have you been lonely?” she asked. “I’m hoping to change that for you.”

She stepped in front of Black and opened her cloak, revealing the black paladin armour underneath. “Alright, open up.”

Black remained dormant.

“Please?” asked Melenor.

Nothing. Just a sleeping giant.

“I am not looking for a commitment up front,” explained Melenor. “Perhaps if you just let me come inside and take a seat we could see if I’m a good fit as a paladin.”

Silence. Melenor was starting to feel more and more silly, like she was talking to the air. How would Zarkon do this? “Vrepit Sa!” Melenor called out. 

Okay, still nothing.

Forget Zarkon. How would Melenor do this if the fate of Altea was at stake? It’s not like she was ever polite unless decorum called for it.

“Black Lion,” said Melenor, “I am your new Paladin!” Was she imagining things or did she see a glint in Black’s eyes, however so briefly?

“My name is Melenor of Altea! I am the fiercest warrior of my generation!”

The eyes flashed with light, a low growl emitting from within. Black reared back, letting out an ear-piercing roar in Melenor’s face. The force of which threatening to push her over, but she held her ground.

“I am your Queen,” said Melenor, pulling back the hood of her cloak. “I am your Paladin!” She dropped the cloak to the ground. “You will bow to me!”

With another roar, Black bent down and opened his mouth to the Queen.

**********

“Have you seen my wife?” asked Alfor when Coran returned to the bridge. “I’ve formulated a proper apology in my head and I want to get it out before I forget it.”

“By that he means we helped him formulate it,” said Trigel. Her, Gyrgan, and Blaytz were sitting at their stations.

“Um, your wife? I – uh – I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure recently,” Coran stuttered as he headed to his post at the front. In that moment his station began emitting a beeping sound.

“What’s that?” asked Alfor.

“Nothing,” said Coran, leaning across his console, barely muffling the sound.

“I don’t believe it,” said Trigel, having brought up the alert on her station. “The Black Lion has left the castle!”

“How is that possible?” gasped Gyrgan.

Alfor’s eyes went wide. “Melenor!”

“Uh, so should we…?” began Blaytz.

“Get to your Lions!” ordered Alfor.

“Yep. We’re getting to our Lions.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so I wanted to do this entire flashback in one chapter, but it got too long! So we will pick back up with Melenor's story in tomorrow's chapter!
> 
> BTW I'm enjoying all the votes and the comments! Also, don't forget to follow me!
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Chilly xoxoxo


	24. The Death of the Black Paladin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We continue to learn about Queen Melenor's backstory and about her death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A long chapter, but it's worth the read.

Chapter 24 - The Death of the Black Paladin

“Have you come to tether me and drag me home, husband?” Melenor asked over the commlink as the Red Lion came into view on her console screen. “I believe you will find it considerably more difficult this time.”

“Melenor, no,” said Alfor, his voice responding over the commlink. “I want to apologize.”

“Apologize in hopes that I’ll come home willingly?” asked Melenor. Black detected the other three Lions following Red and alerted her.

“Far from it. You were right.”

“Of course I was… Right about which part?”

“All of it,” said Alfor. “About folding in on myself after Zarkon turned. About calling retreats in order to protect you. I realize now if I love you, I can’t shelter you. I have to let you be yourself, even if that means you regularly put yourself in harm’s way.”

“Do you like that part of the apology?” asked Blaytz. “I came up with that part.”

“It’s very good, Blaytz,” said Melenor.

“And I do love you,” continued Alfor. “When I first saw you in the Tarsand pits, standing over the bloodied and broken bodies of the fifteen opponents you fought with your bare hands, you didn’t just win the Grestation Battles, you won my heart.”

“Lovely. Who came up with that line?”

“Melenor, I am trying to share with you what is in my heart.”

“Sounds like Trigel…”

“I tweeked it,” admitted Trigel. “But the sentiment is Alfor’s.”

“Will you accept my apology, Melenor?” asked Alfor. “Not just for lacking as your husband, but as lacking as a leader?”

“I can accept your apology, Alfor. If you can accept that leading is no longer up to you. Can you accept me as the leader of Voltron?”

“I can accept that,” said Trigel, very quickly.

“You have my allegiance, your majesty,” said Gyrgan.

“Alfor?” said Melenor.

“I was a fool to not think of the possibility before,” said Alfor. “You are a natural fit, my love. The Black Lion has chosen well.”

The only one who hadn’t pledged allegiance was Blaytz and Melenor knew why. His heart had long since been in the fight and as leader, it was now her duty to bring him back. “Blaytz, listen to me. If you want to see your family again, the only way to do so is to defeat Zarkon and free those Galrans enslaved by his tyranny. Are you with me?”

“I – I’m with you,” said Blaytz.

“We honour those we’ve lost by fighting for them everyday. And if there is a chance our fighting could bring them back to us, it makes the battle that much sweeter.”

“So what’s the plan?” asked Blaytz.

Melenor pushed her accelerator forward, increasing Black’s speed. “We head straight to Zarkon’s own ship and attack. My mother always said the way to defeat a Nineviolian Ledbar is by cutting off the head… Well, the main head - Not the tiny false heads on its tentacles it waves around to confuse you - The actual Ledbar head. You get the idea…”

“Coran,” said Alfor over the commlink. “Mobilize all troops.”

*******

Zarkon had detected their approach before they arrived. Hundreds of Galran fighters were pouring out of the main ship, mobilizing to meet the five Lions and the entire Altean fleet.

“What do we do now, fearless leader?” asked Blaytz.

“We form Voltron,” said Melenor.

“But we usually wait a bit first. Fly off on our own and fight….”

“Pointless. We strike as hard as we can, as soon as we can before they have a chance to strategize a proper counter attack.”

“But dear,” said Alfor, chiming in, “we don’t even know if we can form Voltron. If the new team dynamic -”

“Get in formation!” ordered Melenor, cutting off her husband.

The Lions flew in formation, climbing upwards and Melenor felt something come over her. She felt a connection happen between her and her Paladins as their quintessence synced up. She could almost feel the Black Lion’s parts moving as it shifted to link up with the other Lions, as it became the torso and the head.

Blaytz’s cheering brought her back to reality. “I can’t believe we did it! It’s been deca-phoebs!”

“Well done, everyone,” said Melenor. She needed to quickly get her bearings on the controls. “Gyrgan, form shoulder canon!”

“…Trigel, I need that shield…”

“…Form sword!...”

Melenor continued barking orders, changing Voltron’s attacks to meet the ships and weapons the Galra sent at them, wanting desperately to get a clear shot at the main ship where Zarkon was sure to be observing. It wasn’t sitting with her right though. Why hadn’t he hailed them at least to taunt them? Or, to do what he normally did when they engaged in battle, to demand they surrender the Black Lion to him? Why was he so silent? And then…

The pain hit Melenor so suddenly, she cried out, her vision going blurry.

“Melenor!” came Alfor’s concerned voice. He wasn’t used to hearing her scream… At least not in the context of battle…

“I’m fine,” she said, her vision clearing. She had to refocus on the battle. “We need the sword aga –Ahhhh!”

This time the pain rocked Melenor’s body so hard, she was thrown clear of it. The concerned questions of her fellow Paladins fading from her hearing as she found herself face down in an unknown place.

The sharp pinks and purples were a shock to her eyes. Every colour was too bright. Melenor popped up to standing and took on a fighting stance, taking in the vast open space and the stars above - One red, one blue, standing out in a sea of white pinpricks.

The question she wanted to ask was, ‘Where am I?’ but from her training she knew the more pressing question was, ‘What can kill me here?’

“I’ve been waiting deca-pheobs for this…,” came the gravely voice. “For someone to connect with the Black Lion so I could face them here…”

Melenor spun to see him strolling towards her. “I must say. I’m so glad it’s you, Melenor.”

“Zarkon!” The name escaped Melenor’s lips like a curse.

“You’re a smart woman, Melenor, I think you know what comes next.”

“We battle over control of the Black Lion,” said Melenor. Whatever this place was, it was connected to Black.

“But do you understand the true stakes?” asked Zarkon.

“I imagine if I die here, my body dies as well,” said Melenor, piecing it together.

“Shall I accept your surrender?” asked Zarkon.

Melenor said nothing, simply pulled out her weapon of choice, a retractable trident and let it spring to its full size as her answer.

Zarkon chuckled, low and cruel, seeming to vibrate the very air around them. “Oh Melenor, did your husband not provide you with a Bayard?” he asked, pulling out the Black Bayard.

“No need,” she answered. “I could defeat you with my bare hands if need be.”

Zarkon’s Bayard took the form of chain sword. A cruel smile dancing across his sharp mouth.

Melenor set her face. “This is for Honerva!” she screamed, charging at Zarkon.

Their weapons clashed. Zarkon drew his chain sword back and swung again. Melenor ducked then sprang up, doing a frontwards flip and landing on Zarkons back. She brought the staff of her trident against Zarkon’s throat, using her full weight to press there, cutting off his air.

“You murderous monster!” she spit in his ear. “You killed your own wife!”

Zarkon’s body rocked, trying to throw Melenor off, but she held tight. His one hand still held his Bayard as he tried in vain to hit her over his shoulder with it. His free hand held on to the staff of the trident, keeping it from pressing too tightly to his throat. In a gambit, he let go of the staff, choking as it hit his throat harder, but then used his free arm to pluck Melenor from his back and toss her.

Melenor kept hold of her trident as she was made air born. She rolled as her body (her perceived body) hit the ground. She maneuvered herself to standing within a few rotations and was soon launching herself at Zarkon for a fresh attack. 

Zarkon’s Bayard shifted to a shield, blocking Melenor’s trident. She dropped low, sweeping her trident behind his legs and knocking him off his feet. She jumped on his chest, kicking his Bayard out of his hands. It clattered away, changing back to its neutral form.

“For the glory of Altea!” she screamed, sinking her trident into Zarkon’s chest with her full might behind it.

For a moment there was stillness as Melenor looked at her trident, the points sunken deep into his chest. It was a killing blow and yet… Zarkon chuckled. A gasp escaped Melenor’s lips. How had she not killed him?

“Oh, Melenor,” purred Zarkon, raising his hand to rest on the staff of her trident. “I told you, you needed a Bayard.” The slightest squeeze of Zarkon’s hand and the trident erupted into dust. Like he broke its very existence… or more like it never existed in the first place. “Only Bayards are made out of material that can travel to the astral plane.” 

Zarkon was sitting up and Melenor was scurrying off of him, her eyes wide with horror. She needed that Bayard. Melenor ran, sprinting to where the Black Bayard lay. She reached for it, but out of nowhere Zarkon’s massive arm smacked into her and swept her to the side. Her panic had dulled her senses. She’s failed to see the attack coming.

Melenor rolled back to her feet in time to see Zarkon pick up the Black Bayard. It changed to an energy canon in his hands. He aimed it at her…

Melenor dodged just in time. The energy blast hitting the spot where she’d been standing milliticks ago. “Remember how you said you could defeat me with your bare hands? Now’s your chance to prove it.”

“I will choke you with my fingers!” screamed Melenor, charging him. He shot at her again and she dodged it. “I will draw blood with these nails!”

Zarkon tried to shoot again, but she was too close, she grabbed his Bayard arm and flipped herself over it, causing his arm to collapse and to fire at his feet. He fell as she landed on her toes.

Melenor remembered her training. He was armed and larger, but larger meant slower. As long as she was quick, she could disarm him.

Melenor launched herself at his arm, trying to wrestle the Bayard away. He threw her off and she jumped on it again. This time he bashed her on the head with his other massive fist. Things went blurry for a moment and when she could focus her vision again, she was staring into the barrel of the canon.

Melenor rolled just in time to escape the blast, feeling the heat catch the side of her arm. She tried not to wince. ‘Use the pain,’ she told herself. Her training had taught her to change weakness into strength.

Melenor was back on her feet, but so was Zarkon. As long as he was using the energy canon, she needed to get behind him so he couldn’t aim at her. She was quick. She darted around him. Anytime he turned, she was quicker.

“Now, now, don’t hide, little one,” taunted Zarkon.

Melenor took a few steps backwards and ran at him. She used his back to step up on and jumped into the air. She straightened her legs as she fell, intending to ram his Bayard arm in hopes of him dropping the weapon, but his Bayard shifted impossibly fast and then it was a shield being raised to meet her. Melenor landed feet first on it, intending to leap back off, but Zarkon pushed against the shield, launching her at an angle.

Melenor’s limbs flailed as she flew through the air. She lost her bearings and the ground found her before she found them again. She hit hard and a millitick later the shield was on her back, pressing her hard into the ground, compressing her chest, cutting off her air supply.

“Curious,” said Zarkon. “At what point do you start killing me?” Zarkon must’ve leaned his knee onto the shield because the force pressing on it doubled. 

Melenor was pinned and her brain was threatening to full on panic if she didn’t get a breath of air soon. She didn’t know a move to get out of this full body incapacitation except… Her legs were free so she began bending her knees and kicking backwards, connecting with whatever flesh or armor her heels could find.

Zarkon let out a cry. The moment the weight on her back lessened enough for her strength to move the shield, she did. Melenor scrambled out from under it and as she did she felt it disappear, returning to the normal Bayard form. On her feet she saw Zarkon lying on his side, his hands cupping his groin. So that’s what she’d hit. More importantly, the Black Bayard was on the ground and she was standing between the two.

“Don’t tell me this is how I bring down the great Emperor Zarkon,” said Melenor, keeping an eye on him as she bent to get the Bayard. “By kicking him in the royal jewels.” Her hand was on the Bayard now. She was picking it up. She was imagining what form it would take now that it was in her power. She was imagining regaling Alfor with the story of her victory…

“MELENOR!” Alfor’s voice rocked her back into her body. She was in Black’s cockpit again and alarms were going off all over the console. The other Lions weren’t connected to her anymore. She could tell she was alone.

“The Galra are closing in! They’re coming to take Black!”

“Melenor, please respond!”

“Alfor, we need to tow her to safety or they’ll capture Black!”

“N -,” the smallest sound barely escaped for her lips before the pain erupted inside her again and Melenor was thrown again, back to the realm outside reality. She landed hard on the ground, face down, her hand empty again. When she looked up Zarkon stood over her and he was holding the Black Bayard.

“You don’t deserve to pilot Black,” he snarled as he activated the Bayard. It transformed into a sword, the tip of it piercing into Melenor’s shoulder. The pain of it shocked her nervous system and for the first time in her life Melenor allowed herself to feel despair.

The sword tip withdrew from her shoulder as Zarkon retracted the blade back into the neutral Bayard. Why? Why not finish her?

“I have to say, Melenor…” Zarkon walked around her, taunting her. “In my former life I always admired you. Admired you bravery, your complete lack of fear, your… ruthlessness. You could almost say…” He kneelt down so he could look at her face as he said this next part... “You helped shape the man I’ve become.”

Melenor spit on his shoe. 

“So unroyal,” Zarkon scoffed, standing back up.

“Remove the fancy dress and you’re an animal,” said Zarkon, resuming his circling. “Or maybe that’s just what your husband told me.”

Melenor laughed into the dirt. Did he really think he could make her feel shame? Melenor was watching her blood pool beneath her. She chose to let the blood loss fuel her. She scampered to her feet with a scream. She launched herself at Zarkon, kicking him in the back because she knew he wouldn’t expect it. He stumbled, but didn’t fall. She came at him again and again, kicking and punching with her good arm. Why wasn’t he fighting back? Why wasn’t he activating the Bayard?

She swept out his legs, knocked him to his knees, kicked him in the face. Only then did the Bayard burst to life, taking the form of a mace, cracking her on the side of the head.

Melenor hit the ground hard, her vision didn’t correct itself quick enough so she kept fighting, blindly, getting to her feet, lashing out, feeling her hits connect. There was a ringing in her ears, it sounded like air rushing through a tunnel. She still couldn’t see except for flashes of red and purple.

Boom!

She hit the ground again, the mace having connected with the back of her head this time. She spit out blood. She’d attack again even if she couldn’t see him, couldn’t hear him… she just… needed a tick…

“I could just wait you out,” said Zarkon. “Wait until the blood loss and the exhaustion causes your heart to run out of beats.”

Maybe she could will herself back to reality… If she escaped this plane she still had a hope to live… She could almost see Black’s console coming into focus.

No! Sheer will kicked her back into the other realm. Waking up meant, giving up. It meant losing the trust of the Black Lion. It meant handing Zarkon the weapon he so deeply desired.

“Where did you go there?” asked Zarkon. “Back to your warm bed in your castle? Why did you return?”

“Didn’t wanna…” Melenor could only speak between gasps for breath. “Miss the fun…”

She was getting back up, maybe… Maybe she was imagining getting to her knees then…

BOOM!

The mace connected with her chest. She fell onto her back. Her breath was so ragged now. She could barely get any air in.

“Here,” said Zarkon, his voice so close now. Her eyes focused as his face came into view before hers. He was leaning over her prostrate body. “I feel bad you didn’t get the chance.”

Chance to what?

“Go on,” he said. “Choke me to death with your bare hands.”

Melenor wanted to say something sarcastic about Zarkon’s kinks, but her mouth was too tired to form words. Instead she raised her shaky arms up and slipped her hands around his throat. She squeezed. She knew the effort was pathetic. She knew he likely barely felt it, but she willed all her strength into it, forcing her fingers to grip tighter and tighter. It didn’t matter if it wasn’t enough strength. She would keep squeezing until it worked. She’d choke him for a hundred deca-phoebs if it meant his life contained one less breath.

“It’s amazing,” said Zarkon, speaking so clearly, as if his throat wasn’t constricted at all. “You really don’t give up.” Now he was leaning back, her fingers slipping useless from his throat as he stood up. “I would love to see you break.”

The Black Bayard transformed into a sword in his hands. He held it down towards her, the tip hovering above her face. “Beg for your life and I will spare you.”

Melenor’s arms felt like dead weight, but slowly she lifted them. She took the blade of the sword and repositioned it so the tip was right above her heart. “I’m sick…” she said between ragged breaths… “Of listening to your voice.”

That wicked grin spread across Zarkon’s jagged mouth. “So you won’t break, but you’ll die. Then Alfor, he will break. And if he doesn’t, he’ll die. I’ll kill him in front of your beautiful daughter and then I will make her beg for mercy.” 

“Wrong,” Melenor sputtered out. “Allura will stop you.” She sucked in as much air as she could. “She will rip your Empire apart.” A breath, deeper still, life coming back to Melenor. “She will hunt your kind down to the ends of the universe and slaughter all those that follow you.” She put the full force of her spirit into what she said next, “That is my vow!”

Zarkon let out a single chuckle. “No one cares about the vow of a dead woman.” 

He pushed down. The blade sunk into Melenor’s heart and she felt it as her very soul burst apart into a million fragments.

********

The Altean fleet fought back the Galra as the other Lions towed the Black Lion to safety, back onto the castleship. As soon as he was docked, Alfor sprinted out of Red, throwing his helmet from his head. The other Paladins were right behind him as he reached Black.

When Alfor entered the cockpit, at first he thought it was empty. From behind he saw no pilot, but as he came around the chair he saw her. Her tiny body had slumped down in the seat. Her eyes were open. She was lifeless… 

********

“Zarkon won the war that day,” Melenor told her daughter. “Once your father’s heart was broken, he gave up. Not outwardly. He still sent ships to battle. He still piloted his Lion and went about the motions, but he’d quit fighting. Zarkon took over more and more territory. When Zarkon faced your father in combat, his victory was quick and its no wonder.

“Your father never knew how to turn his pain into victory. Because of this the other paladins left him. Abadoning their Lions when they were certain Voltron would never again be formed. Do not blame them. They each had their own battles to face against the Galra. Gyrgan’s home world took in refugees fleeing planets Zarkon had conquered. When the Galra arrived at Gyrgan’s world, Zarkon’s revenge was swift and brutal. None survived.

“Blaytz went undercover and snuck onto the Galran ship where his husband and son were being held. He was able to free them, pass them off to Galran rebels, but he himself was captured. He died fighting in the Gladiator pits.

“Trigel’s system had the best defense strategies. The Dalterion Belt held out longer than Altea… But not much… One by one the home worlds of all the Paladins fell.” 

Allura was crying. “Mother, I didn’t know all this. Father told me you died in battle against the Galra. He never told me about you piloting the Black Lion or fighting Zarkon on the astral plane.”

“He didn’t know about that last part,” said Melenor. “How could he know? From Alfor’s perspective I died in the Black Lion while leading Voltron. To him my body gave up because I couldn’t handle the stress of it.”

Allura covered her mouth in horror, but then she said. “Right after you died he locked the Black Lion in the depths of the castle. He forbid anyone from so much as going near it. Any time anyone suggested forming Voltron, he’d fly into a rage. I asked him many times to let me try to pilot Black…” Realization was dawning on Allura. “He thought it could kill me so he put me to sleep and sent the Lions away without ever saying anything and… and then I gave the Lion to Shiro…” Allura was shaking her head, too much was adding up yet she was still so confused. “You died in the astral plane, but how are you…? How are you… anything?”

“It was soul-death,” agreed Melenor. “And because my spirit died, so did my physical form. All my physical forms across all realities died in an instant… Alluras in every reality lost their mother…” Melenor paused. “And I should’ve been nothing. For a moment or perhaps for deca-phoebs, I was, but then my eyes opened and I was whole again and above me stood the Guardians of this realm. They had pieced me back together. My, however brief, connection with the Black Lion had convinced them I was worthy of becoming one of them, a Guardian of the astral plane, just like the Black Lion.”

“Like the Black Lion?”

“Your father was an incredible alchemist. He had no idea of what his abilities were. When he forged the Lions from the comet, he didn’t just create the universe’s greatest weapons, he en-souled them. He acted as a life giver. More than that, the souls he called to embody them… Allura, he called the souls of Guardians of the five realms.”

“The what? I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“Black,” said her mother, holding out her hands. Inside appeared a vision of the Black Lion. “He is the Guardian of the sky and the Guardian of this realm, the astral plane. The sky and the astral plane are one.”

“Red,” said her mother as the Red Lion appeared in her hands. “She is the Guardian of fire…” The Red Lion transformed into flames. “The Fire of the Memory realm for our memories keep us warm, but they can also burn us. That’s where two of your friends are now.”

“Wait. What?”

Melenor continued as if she hadn’t heard Allura’s question. “Green and Yellow. Two of the Guardians of Earth and Forest, of Imagination and Dreams. The ash of memories mixes with the soil of imagination and from it grows the forest of our dreams.” In Melenor’s hands a tree grew. “Your other two friends are there.”

“Who is?”

“Blue,” said Melenor, the Blue Lion appearing in her hands. “She is one of the Guardians of the water.” A sheet of blue water appeared in front of it and Melenor stuck in hand inside. “In the reflection of the water, we find The After.” If Allura squinted she could see figures moving in the reflection.

“Every realm has multiple Guardians,” continued Melenor. “One from each en-souled a Lion. The Black Lion and the other Guardians of the astral plane pieced my shattered soul back together and invited me to become one of them. An Ancient One.” Melenor bowed her head to this as if this was of great importance that required her to be humble.

Allura’s eyes were wide. “An Ancient One? A Guardian of the astral plane?” Her eyes were flicking back and forth, still putting the pieces together. “Shiro came here, when his body died.”

“Yes,” said Melenor. “He should’ve passed on to the After, but the Black Lion brought his quintessence here instead. I got to know him pretty well over the coming phoebs as I watched over him. He is an incredible warrior, practically Altean in his abilities. Were the old traditions still in place, he would be top candidate for your husband.”

“Mother!” said Allura, blushing. “Even if traditions were to be followed, he’s gay.”

“He’s what?”

“It’s a human word for only being attracted to men.”

“They have a specific word for that?” asked Melenor, shaking her head then a smile spread across her face. “I suppose in my next like I could come back as male…”

“Mother!” Allura practically shrieked.

“I am only joking. I have met his soul mate after all. Now we must speak of your love life, daughter. And why, like your father, a broken heart has caused you to fall in on yourself.”

“I have not!” protested Allura. “I have faced every battle with vigor. I have been successful every time, just as you taught me.”

“You did the bare minimum, Allura,” argued Melenor. “You’ve slowly been taking a back seat while allowing others to lead. By the time you reached Earth, you were no more than another member of a team, not their sovereign leader. You stood back and let humans – male humans - take the lead while you followed orders all because you’ve been hurt.”

“I am not hurt!” argued Allura. “My heart is not broken! In fact I am in love!”

“Are you?” asked Melenor, her voice calming.

“Yes, I’ve fallen in love mother and he –” Allura cut herself off as her mother was suddenly so close to her, her mother’s hands coming to rest on her temples.”

“Daughter, I believe you are capable to facing any pain imaginable. Do you believe this too?”

“I -” stuttered Allura, unsure of what her mother meant.

“Do you believe me when I tell you, you are capable of facing any pain no matter how great?”

“If you believe in me then yes,” said Allura.

“That is why I show you this,” said Melenor, pressing her fingers into Allura’s temples. Melenor’s eyes turned milky white and so did her daughter’s as the vision appeared before Allura…

Lance holding Keith from behind. His arms wrapped so tightly around him. Keith’s face turning to look over his shoulder. Lance’s face moving closer. There lips meeting…

“Lance, no!” cried Allura, shocking herself out of the vision to find herself still standing facing her mother. “How could he?” she sobbed, her knees giving way, falling to the floor. “I thought he loved me! How could he betray me?!” Hot tears streaked her face as Allura felt depths of hurt she didn’t know were possible. “That bastard!”

Her mother’s hand found her shoulder. “Now tell me daughter, are you really crying for Lance?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	25. Should I title this chapter 'Yes Homo?'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> KLANCE HAS HAPPENED! The boys discuss their feelings and their future. Lance finds a creative way to kill the mood.

Chapter 25 – Should I title this chapter ‘Yes Homo?’

Lance could only describe it as being swept into a tornado, of not knowing if you were passing through the storm or if you were the storm, but then… it was still. Lance dared to stop kissing Keith, dared to stop hungrily trying to devour his soul through his lips so Lance could keep him with him always, he dared to stop (even though it killed him to pull away) so he could look at what they were dealing with.... You know, see what oblivion looked like.

“Keith!” said Lance, rocketing to his feet, dragging his make-out buddy up with him. “Look! It’s our stars!” The night sky was clear. Gone were the hazy ghost-like figures of their past and now there was only fresh air, wide open space, and a pair of red and blue stars shining brightly in the sky.

“Our stars?” asked Keith, looking up to where Lance was pointing. 

“Well, yeah,” said Lance, scratching the back of his head and blushing. “Isn’t that what you thought when you saw the red and the blue?”

“My lion’s black now,” said Keith.

“Yeah, but you still wear red armor and also you can’t have a black star because it would be invisible.”

Keith was looking at Lance now and Lance couldn’t figure out how to read what that face was until Keith said, “You literally think we have stars together in the astral plane?”

Oh no… Was Lance being too eager too soon? Had they not just been kissing? Weren’t they into each other? Was that not what all of this was about?

Lance’s panic seemed to amuse Keith who smiled and said, “Why you so obsessed with us?”

“So we are an us,” said Lance, breathing a sigh of relief. “Okay, that’s good to know.”

“Lance,” said Keith, sincerely. “You just saved me from… disappearing. Yeah, there’s an us.” Keith took Lance by the hand. We’re talking full on palm on palm contact. Hardcore finger entwining.

Lance marveled at how this simple gesture made his heart soar. Then Keith did this thing where he used one of his fingers to scratch the center of Lance’s palm. Lance felt electricity shoot from his hand down to his toes. Quiznak, was hand holding always this sensual?

“You play it really close to the chest,” said Lance. “I didn’t even know you were gay.”

“I didn’t know you were bi.”

“No one knew.”

“Except Shiro.”

Lance felt confused. “No, he doesn’t.”

“You talked to him about it,” said Keith, annoyed.

“Yeah, but I cleverly covered it up. He didn’t know who I was talking about.”

Keith gave Lance a ‘you can’t be this dumb’ look. Oh, how Lance loved those special looks Keith saved just for him. But why was he getting this one now?

“Shiro knows.”

“Like… through gaydar?” asked Lance.

“You are so lucky you’re pretty,” said Keith, shaking his head.

“Keith thinks I’m pretty,” sing-songed Lance.

“And you think I’m… grizzled was it?” asked Keith.

“Yeah and it works on you and I’m here for it,” said Lance, using his free hand to gesture to Keith’s entire body.

“And at what point did you become… here for this?” asked Keith, curious.

“Like, when did I start liking you?” asked Lance with a blush. “Maybe since the Garrison, but I didn’t figure out it was a crush until recently. I didn’t really know why I wanted your attention so much. When did you, you know, figure out you wanted a piece of Lancey Lance?”

Lance saw Keith winge. Keith looked away. “We just watched when.”

“Wait. The bonding moment?” asked Lance, suddenly outraged. “You didn’t like me at all until the bonding moment?”

“I am a late bloomer,” said Keith. “I’m the first to admit that.” Lance was still pouting. “But I at least noticed you were cute at the Garrison.”

“Yes!” cheered Lance, dropping Keith’s hand so he could do a full on twirl. “You remember me from the Garrison! I’m memorable!”

“Lance, honestly how could anyone not notice you? You’re the loudest, brightest person in any given room at any given time. Not noticing you is like not noticing the sun.”

“I’m your sun,” gasped Lance. “You’re my moon. We’re like Romeo and Juliette except we’re both dudes and nobody’s gotta take the big sleep.” Lance was in full on ramble mode now. “Wait… when I ran into you while I was saving Shiro -”

“I was saving Shiro…”

“You acted like you didn’t recognize me.”

“Oh yeah, I full on gay-panicked and lied.”

“Whaaaaaat?” squeaked Lance. “That’s a thing we do? We have our own attraction-based brand of panic?”

“Yeah, you can learn all about it in the queer handbook.”

“Nice. Never got issued one of those… Can I borrow yours? I promise not to eat anything sticky while reading it.”

“Lance, that was a joke.”

“Aw, you made a joke. You’re so much like me now. Our personalities are merging into one.”

“You are… just downright giddy aren’t you?” asked Keith, shaking his head.

“Yeah, I am,” said Lance, suddenly taking Keith by the hips and pulling him up against himself. “Aren’t you?” Lance enjoyed the blush that entered Keith’s cheeks. He brushed away a mullet strand just so he could see the blush deepen.

“I guess there’s a reason gay means happy,” said Keith, making another joke. Lance wondered if Keith’s gay-panic was threatening to make him spazz out and shove Lance to the ground again. Actually, that hadn’t been so bad before…

“Keith,” said Lance, tipping his head so their foreheads touched. Now he was rocking his hips, making Keith sway with him, the feeling being just so intoxicating. “My whole life I’ve been like, ‘no homo,’ but when I’m with you I’m like, ‘yes, homo.’” Lance leaned in for a kiss, Keith stopped him with a single finger pressed to Lance’s lip.

“Yes homo?” repeated Keith. “Yes homo? That’s what you think passes as a romantic line? Yes homo?”

“Hey, I said a ton of romantic quiznak earlier when you were about to blip away. Not everything I say can be a gem. I talk so much, eventually I’m going to say the wrong thing.”

“Yeah, but now ‘yes homo’ is part of our origin story!” complained Keith, full on stepping out of Lance’s embrace.

“So what?” cried Lance. “It’s not like we’re going to tell anyone I said ‘yes homo!’ we’ll just tell them all the other romantic stuff I said earlier that I’m currently blanking on.”

“Lance, be real.”

“You’re right. I’m totally going to tell everyone about ‘yes, homo.’ Our grandkids will to be like, ‘abuelo, how did grandpa know you were the one?’ and I’ll be like, ‘well ninos, your grandpa was like “no homo” and I was like “yes homo” and then we knew we were in love.’”

“Okay,” said Keith, pressing a finger to his temple. “Three things: One - I never said ‘no homo,’ that was you –”

“Yeah, but when I tell the story, I’m going to say that you said it because it adds dramatic tension.”

“Two - We’re going to have grandkids together? And three - We’re in love??”

“Two men can have grandkids, there are ways. You’re gay, you should know this from your handbook or whatever. And also…” Lance got a bit of colour in his cheeks. “Quiznak yeah, I love you.”

*******

Lance loved Keith. Had wanted him since the Garrison. Interanlly Keith was doing cartwheels, but all the logical part of his brain could think was, wow, they were bad at communicating. But they were talking now and Lance was baring everything so… “I love you too,” said Keith, crossing his arms across his chest.

“No, nononono,” said Lance, stepping up to Keith. He took Keith’s arms and unfolded them and then wrapped them instead around himself. “No more of that hugging yourself thing you do. This is where your arms go from now on.”

Oh no, Lance really was super intense and romantic and Keith couldn’t stop blushing. He wanted to kiss Lance, but he wasn’t ready yet to initiate.

“Go ahead,” said Lance.

“Uh.”

“You can kiss me, Keith. We already said we love each other. Are you gay-panicking right now? Or gay-freezing? I need to learn the terminology. Do you think you could make me some gay cliff notes? Or maybe I’ll copy the important stuff onto the back of my hand. There isn’t a test, is there?”

Keith kissed Lance just to shut him up. And oh, this one was even better because they were facing each other and they weren’t flickering in and out of existence. It was amazing what the right angle and being corporeal could do for a kiss.

“We really should get out of this hell hole,” said Lance, sounding all breathy.

Keith had to kiss him again. Just for sounding like that. Now that he knew he could do it, it would be hard not to do it.

“I never would’ve thought of you as affectionate,” Lance was saying, spacing the words out between kisses.

“Mmm just wait until we try this in our bodies,” said Keith and then they both gay-froze, seeming to remember they were just quintessence in some kind of memory realm.

“Okay, now I think we should really try to get back to the others,” said Lance.

“Blue and red lead us to the astral plane, right?” said Keith.

“Just follow our stars,” Lance agreed. The two of them set off, hand in hand using the stars as their guide, the cliff they’d fallen down loaming off in the distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	26. Takashi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro reflects on his school days. This is the beginning of their love story...

Chapter 26 – Takashi

“Are you seeing this?” asked Allura. Above their heads a lightning storm was crackling, purple and pink bolts dancing together in a threatening waltz.

“Abandon hope…” warned that disembodied voice.

“I am. Just hold on. Don’t listen to that voice.”

“Abandon hope…”

“Let’s take our hope with us,” said Shiro. He wanted to and he tried, but as Shiro ascended to that lightning field above, he felt something slipping from him, like sand he he’d tried to carry come, just running through his fingers. He was doing this to see Adam, but why would Adam want to see him? Adam had vowed not to see him when he returned. He likely hated Shiro.

“Abandon…”

Shiro felt gripped with despair. He shouldn’t have come here. He wanted to go home, but what was his home if Adam weren’t there? In all the time that had passed since Kerberos the constant was picturing Adam back on Earth. Adam was home. Adam was gone. Home no longer existed.

But then he felt warmth coming from Allura, spreading out, filling him with light and he thought back to his school days…

For Shiro’s first year at the Galaxy Garrison he’d had two goals: to be the top of the class and to make it look effortless. There was a contradiction in there and it was wearing Shiro down. He’d had one particularly bad day. It had started with him arguing with a teacher over a grade on an essay. Next he’d fallen while running drills and landed funny on his wrist. His wrist had still been bothering him that afternoon when he’d crashed in the simulator for the first time ever. To make matters worse he’d gotten into an argument with his assigned flight partner, Adam. To be fair they fought all the time. Shiro wasn’t good at working with a team. Mostly because he felt like they held him back. Adam was only an okay pilot and since they were graded as a group, okay wasn’t going to cut it. Anyway, this fight was different. It wasn’t their usual bickering, it was a screaming match that got them both suspended for the rest of the school day.

Shiro had snuck out of the building and climbed up to the Garrison roof to try to calm down. Afternoon turned into evening and he still hadn’t managed to make himself feel any better. He’d been trying to pep talk himself. Promised that starting tomorrow he’d really buckle down. He’d ace every test and essay. He’d go for runs in the morning to get his endurance up for drills. He’d also ask Iverson for a new flight partner assignment. Yet none of these things made Shiro feel any better.

That’s when he’d heard someone approaching. The slow footsteps on the gravel Shiro recognized it as Adam’s without needing to turn around. How did he know Adam’s footsteps just from the sound? Maybe because Adam had that natural grace about him, every step perfectly lined up in front of the last, like he was taking his time on a Milan runway. Adam had that perfect body control. He was so comfortable in his own skin. He never fell during drills…

Thinking about Adam soured Shiro’s mood further. The footsteps stopped. Shiro waited for Adam to speak. He was either there to apologize or to continue the fight. Frankly, Shiro hoped for the latter. There were no Garrison Instructors to pull them apart this time. Shiro might even get a chance to throw a punch. Maybe that would finally ease of this anxious energy he’d been feeling all day.

“You don’t have to try so hard,” came Adam’s voice, “to be great.” The tone wasn’t apologetic or angry like Shiro had been expecting. It was just neutral. “You could just be yourself… Takashi.”

Shiro inhaled sharply at the sound of his given name. He turned to look at Adam, but Adam was already strolling away, hands casually tucked in his pockets, one foot carefully falling in front of the next. Shiro wanted to say something to him. Maybe protest? Ask Adam where he got the nerve to say his name like that?

But he said nothing because he searched himself and found he wasn’t angry. There was a lump in Shiro’s throat, but also warmth spreading inside his stomach. All because a boy had said his name.

It took Shiro another hour to recover, allowing the waves of emotion to come crashing down and then retreat like the tide going out. He walked lightly back to his dorm room, that anxiety that had been gripping him so hard completely gone.

The room was dark, Adam and Shiro’s other roommates were already asleep so Shiro just climbed into his bed, closed his eyes, and fell asleep instantly for the first time in his life.

Shiro approached the next day with curiosity. He wanted to see if Adam would call him by his given name again. The opportunity came when they split into their simulator teams. Adam seemed relaxed, but when it came time to address Shiro, he just called him Shiro. He felt disappointed. At least he did until later when they bumped into each other outside the dining hall when they were both late for supper. 

Instead of just stepping back and letting Adam go in first, Shiro did something bold. He held open the door for Adam and said, “After you.”

“Thanks…Takashi,” said Adam before walking inside. Shiro looked around and saw no one was close to have overheard. Was that how it worked?

Indeed, that was how it worked. When others were around Adam would call him Shiro, but when they were alone together he’d call him Takashi.

And to be clear, it’s not like anything special or intimate was being said while they were alone together. There was a lot of “Have you seen my social studies book, Takashi?” “Pass me my other shoe, Takashi.” “Takashi, you have the worst taste in music.” It was a little thing, but for some reason it gave Shiro a little boost of happiness every time it happened.

Shiro started looking for excuses to be alone with Adam. Switch his laundry shift to the same day so they could chat with each other while they fold. Get up a little earlier so they could jog together before breakfast. Stay up five minutes later so Shiro could recount his day to Adam while he watched him go through his nightly skincare routine.

Shiro was pretty much following Adam around like a lost dog. And not just to places where they could be alone, anywhere Adam went Shiro was sure to go. And if Shiro was hesitating, starting to wonder if Adam wanted him around all the time, Adam would casually say, “Are you coming?” and Shiro would be hot on his heals. 

He followed Adam to his lunch table one day and sat with Adam’s group of friends. Shiro hadn’t made friends at the Garrison. His parents had warned him not to get distracted from his studies and surely casual relationships were a distraction. But Shiro liked Adam’s friends and after a week he realized they were now his friends too.

Adam was funny. He’d shift his whole demeanor when he wasn’t in class. He liked to make scathing comments and snap his fingers while referring to himself as Mr. Sass Mouth. Adam regularly had Shiro in stitches. He could get him laughing so hard his sides would hurt for the rest of the day. Shiro then discovered he was actually funny himself. He’d banter back and forth with Adam. He’d make jokes that Adam would then call dad jokes while rolling his eyes. But still he could make Adam giggle and the two of them could get the table roaring with laughter as they traded insults.

“You’re a natural with people, Takashi,” Adam had said while dabbing on his nighttime cream. He took a step back to inspect his face in the bathroom mirror. “I don’t know why you’ve been avoiding it for so long.”

Shiro didn’t know either because without even realizing his grades had improved. His scores were near perfect in every subject including the simulator. Shiro had stopped looking at his assigned team as a burden and flipped it around, deciding to take on a leadership role, encouraging everyone’s unique strengths. Adam was actually a good pilot, a very good pilot even. He’d just needed someone giving him better direction.

When the list was posted at the end of second year, Shiro was surprised to see his name at the top of the class. He’d forgotten to keep track of his grade point average. He’d been too busy being happy.

“I hate to say I told you so,” said Adam. “That’s a lie. I’m a salty queen and I love saying it. I told you so…” then Adam leaned in so only Shiro could hear him add “Takashi.”

Adam’s breath was warm on Shiro’s ear and suddenly his heart was racing. He turned to look at Adam, wanting to catch those brown eyes, but Adam was already walking back down the hall.

Shiro stood there beside the paper announcing to the world that he was the top student. And it had been effortless after all. But now Shiro knew for sure he didn’t have everything he wanted…

“Do they have to rub it in our faces like that?” It’s what his mother had said the first time Shiro had seen two men holding hands in public. He was young, five or six. He remembered it was on the subway and when it was their stop they’d needed to walk by them. His mother had put a protective arm around Shiro as they passed the two men. Like they were a threat.

That’s when Shiro learned gay people were dangerous, by how his mother behaved. When he was eleven he’d overheard her tell a friend. “I don’t hate them. I just don’t like their lifestyle.”

When Shiro had first arrived at the Galaxy Garrison school he’d been assigned a dorm room with three other boys. He’d arrived a little later so he’d missed out on choosing a bed, but another roommate had been there to show him around.

“That’s Adam’s bunk,” said the cadet who had introduced himself as Reece. “He’s got glasses, kinda lanky. Funny though. I’m guessing he’s gay.”

It was his upbringing that caused Shiro to confuse what had been a casual mentioning of a personality detail for a warning.

“And they let him bunk with us?” asked Shiro. “Shouldn’t he be put in with the girls?”

It was Reece’s horrified reaction that made Shiro realize he’d committed a social faux-pas. “That was a joke,” Shiro said quickly, trying to cover up his blunder.

“Oh good,” said Reece with a sigh of relief. “For a second I thought you were a homophobe and we were going to have a problem.” Reece gestured around and Shiro understood the ‘we’ to be the group of roommates, Adam included. “Just maybe don’t go there with the gay jokes,” warned Reece. “In the orientation they said the school has a zero tolerance policy on hate speech so if your joke was taken the wrong way, you could get expelled for it.”

“Good to know,” said Shiro, trying to look relaxed. Internally he was in turmoil. He’d thought he’d reacted how he was supposed to, with disgust, but now he knew reacting the way he was taught could get him expelled. Shiro had thought he’d known how the world worked, but this made him feel off kilter. So he’d have to be cautious when he was around his gay roommate. The best solution would be to avoid him as much as possible.

“Shirogane, this is Adam. He’ll be your flight partner in the simulator.”

Of course. Of course luck would partner them…

Shiro was incredibly lucky. He knew that for certain as he stood next to that class list listening to Adam’s footsteps click away.

If he was being honest with himself, Shiro discomfort with Adam’s sexuality had fueled a lot of his antagonism towards him and Shiro’s realization that his views on homosexuality weren’t the norm had isolated him from his fellow classmates. He’d been scared of slipping up and being seen as wrong when really he felt Adam was the one who was wrong. God, he’d been so mixed up…

Shiro cried in a bathroom stall. It was the first time he’d cried at the Garrison. First time he’d cried in years, because his parents had always told him not to cry. To suck it up. To work harder. To push himself.

Lord, was everything in his life a lie? Was everything a contradiction?

Shiro was gay. Shiro hated himself. But hadn’t he already hated himself? Hadn’t he been gay this whole time? And the only thing that had made him feel good about himself was befriending Adam. Had Adam turned him gay? It didn’t feel true… But these were confusing questions and the only one who might be able to answer them was Adam and Shiro couldn’t ask him. There was too much he’d have to face.

Shiro dried his tears on a piece of toilet paper and then he went about his day. He had a week left before the break between second and third year. He tried not to pay attention to the turmoil in his head. He tried to ignore the clenching fist inside his stomach. In some moments he could, because there was Adam cracking jokes and poking fun at him, encouraging Shiro to clap back so they could get their group of friends laughing. Adam was an addiction.

Shiro tried not to be quiet around Adam. He would only retreat into his own head when Adam wasn’t around. He’d only sort through the mess of disgust and longing when Adam couldn’t catch him doing it. Otherwise Adam would tip his head to the side and playfully ask, “Watcha thinking about, Takashi?” And Shiro would let it spill.

It was the last day before break. Everyone’s parents would be picking them up in the morning. The only thing on the agenda was to pack. Reece and the fourth roommate, Mohammed had snuck off to the Garrison kitchen to steal boxes of their favourite protein bars so they could bring them home to snack on over the break.

Shiro and Adam had the room to themselves. That’s when Adam had dramatically thrown himself down on his bed and declared, “Screw it! I hate this! I’ll just buy all new stuff when I’m home.”

With a sigh, Shiro had sat down on the side of Adam’s bed. He’d just realized the book he couldn’t find he’d leant to Cadet Fong who had left a day early for home so there was no chance he was getting it back.

Silence filled the room. There’d never been silence between Shiro and Adam. They’d always filled it with talking. Shiro, so eager to tell Adam every detail of his life, every thought that popped into his head and Adam, listening with rapt attention, making large facial expressions, gasping and oh’ing, and making hilarious observations. They had a seamless back and forth that had never been broken before. The silence was dangerous. There were too many options in the silence.

“Takashi…” began Adam. Shiro’s heart immediately started racing at the sound of his given name. “When are you going to ask me to stop?”

Confused by the question, Shiro had looked down over his shoulder to see Adam had rolled onto his side. His body was now curled in a C shape, almost cupping Shiro, but nowhere close enough to actually make physical contact. “Stop what?” asked Shiro.

Adam didn’t look up at him, just stared ahead at the opposite wall. “To stop using your given name.”

Shiro blinked, unable to answer.

Adam continued, “I know a bit about Japanese culture. I know it’s your personal name. People aren’t supposed to casually use it, but you… you just let me. So I was wondering if you’re too polite to correct me or…” Adam trailed off.

Indeed, what was the other option? That Shiro loved hearing Adam say his given name. That it was his own personal addiction. Shiro knew there were two possibilities in how he could answer. He could tell Adam to stop. He could make the choice. He could choose not to be gay. But we all know that’s not really a choice…

“I like…,” began Shiro, needing to stop and gulp in an attempt to clear the huge lump that was suddenly in his throat. “I like when you use it.”

Shiro looked down and saw the tiniest smile on Adam’s lip. “Good. I like using it. It’s like a piece of you that I get all to myself.”

“You can…,” began Shiro, not knowing the end of that sentence until he was already saying it, “…have everything.” Shiro closed his eyes and braced himself. He felt like he’d just stepped off a cliff and was free falling.

Shiro felt the bed rock as Adam moved. Shiro reopened his eyes as suddenly Adam’s face was inches from Shiro and he looked… crazy.

“What do you mean?” asked Adam, suddenly very intense. “Because my very gay brain just interpreted what you said as flirting and I’m going to need to know what you meant when you said I can have everything.”

Shiro had never blushed before, but he knew the heat in his cheeks had to be just that. And knowing that he was blushing and Adam being right there to see him blushing made him blush even more. “I mean,” said Shiro. “You can have me. Everything that is me.”

“Takashi,” said Adam, and this time it came out all breathy and it made Shiro feel shaky even though he was sitting on something solid. Adam’s hand came up to Shiro face and just his thumb brushed against his cheek bone and any doubts Shiro had evaporated because there was no denying how he felt. Shiro was gaaaaaaaay. “I glady accept all that is you.”

Adam was the most adorable boy on the planet. Hands down.

“Then can I have you too?” asked Shiro, daring to place a hand on Adam’s knee. Oh no, touching was amazing. How did he not know touching boys left like vanilla bean ice cream and a perfect test score rolled into one?

“Takashi…,” said Adam, his forehead tipping to touch Shiro’s. It was all too overwhelmingly perfect… “You’ve had me since day one. You were just too repressed to notice.”

“I’m sorry,” said Shiro, shaking his head and accidently rubbing it against Adam’s messy bangs.

“Nothing to be sorry about,” said Adam. “Drawing out the real you has been my favourite thing.”

“Adam,” said Shiro. “Can I kiss you now?”

But it was Adam that kissed Shiro. The hand that had brushed his face, slipping behind Shiro’s neck, drawing him just a bit closer. Doing exactly what Adam did best with Shiro, pulling him into him. Shiro felt every inch of himself relax as their lips met. Like he’d been holding back and holding back his entire life and now finally he could just be in the moment. He could just enjoy the little teasing brushes of butterfly kisses Adam gave him before pushing with just a bit of pressure and dragging his bottom lip across Shiro’s and…..ohhhhh Shiro was so gay. So very, very gay. And it was the very best feeling.

Naturally that’s when the door swung open, their roommates returning with half a dozen boxes of protein bars each. Shiro rocked his body backward, slapping a hand a across his mouth.

“Whoa!” said Reece. “Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Good news,” said Adam, leaning back on his hands and crossing his legs (like actually fanning them out before daintily crossing them. “I’ve turned Shiro gay.”

Shiro blushed for the second time in his life (and both without five minutes!)

“Awesome,” said Mohammed, dropping his boxes on his bunk. Then he pointed at Reece and said, “You owe my five bucks.”

“Damn,” said Reece then he looked at Shiro. “I was counting on your internalized homophobia to hold you off for at least another semester.”

“You two… knew I was gay…,” said Shiro, then he nearly bit his own tongue in shock as he realized he’d actually said those words out loud.

“Hey, I didn’t know what you were,” said Mohammed, throwing his hands up defensively. “I just knew you looked at Adam like he was a donut and you were h’angry.”

Shiro was dead. He’d died. He didn’t know when it had happened, but he was suddenly curled up behind Adam, hiding his face.

“Ya’ll just jealous,” said Adam, snapping his fingers like the queen he was, “because ya’ll can’t handle this jelly!”

“I guess things are going to change around here,” said Reece. From his hiding place behind Adam, Shiro watched Reece pull three textbooks out of his suitcase and toss them aside so he could fit the protein bars in instead. “I’m going to miss your whole will-they-or-won’t-they? vibe.”

“Was I that obvious?” Shiro muttered into Adam’s back.

Adam looked down at Shiro with concern on his face. “Guys, can Shiro and I take a minute alone?”

“Okay,” sighed Reece. “Just no getting pregnant.”

“We’re not ready to be uncles,” added Mohammed.

When Shiro heard the door close, Adam started to move. He came to lay down behind Shiro then wrapped his arms around him, pulling him against him. Shiro didn’t know anything could feel so comforting and he certainly didn’t know why it set him off crying.

“Hey,” said Adam, quietly in his ear. “I’m really proud of you.”

No one had ever said that to Shiro and it set him off more. Geez, second time in a week. Being gay made Shiro kinda weepy.

“For more than a year now you’ve been gradually owning who you are,” continued Adam. “And look how it’s made you a better cadet. Well, the best cadet. And I’m anticipating it’s going to make you the best boyfriend. No wait, second best. I’m going to be the best boyfriend because look how much I rock at being supportive.”

Shiro laughed. It came sputtering out between ragged breaths.

“And I’m always going to support you, Takashi.”

Shiro figured out why he was crying. Being with Adam had always been this wonderful possibility, but the reality meant accepting himself as gay and he knew he didn’t want to hide that from his parents. The fear of how they’d react gripped him hard, but Adam helped him through the breakdown, never caring that five seconds after they’d had their first kiss Shiro was crying like a baby. He accepted him. Truly.

Later that night Adam snuck down to the kitchen and brought back vanilla bean ice cream to their room. They ate it and sat up all night talking, Adam answering every single question Shiro had about his sexuality. Nothing was off limits. No matter how many times their roommates yelled at them to shut up and go to sleep already.

Adam supported him. He held Shiro’s hand the next day when Shiro introduced him as his boyfriend to his parents. And Adam held his hand when Shiro’s parents drove off without him. Then he held Shiro’s hand as he walked him right over to his parents and introduced him.

“This is my boyfriend,” said Adam, proudly. “I turned him gay so now I have to keep him.”

This made his parents and his little brother burst out laughing. Shiro couldn’t understand the reaction.

Adam held his hand as they sat in the backseat of his parents’ car as they all took Shiro home for break with them.

Years later he'd hold his hand in the doctor's office while he received his diagnosis...

Adam supported him through everything and boy did he give his love reason to worry. Adam was his rock. That is until Kerberos…

The warmth coming off Allura grew, spreading through Shiro’s limbs to the tips of his fingers and toes.

Shrio had ten years of Adam and there’s no denying that Adam changed his life. From him Shiro learned about acceptance and how to support those around you. He learned that family stuck by you no matter what and that you didn’t need to be blood related to consider someone family. Adam taught him how to look out for those in need of support, those needing to be drawn out of their shell. Shiro had his gifts, but Adam made him a leader. Shiro wouldn’t have been able to be who he was to the Paladins if Adam hadn’t taught him how. Shiro wouldn’t be a fraction of the man he was today if it weren’t for Adam patiently drawing out the real Shiro. The real Takashi…

Shiro closed his eyes tight, holding on to Allura for dear life. He could taste the electricity in the air.

“…Hope…hope…hope…”

Then…

Quiet. Stillness. Allura’s warmth left him. Her whole body evaporating from his grasp. For a moment Shiro felt her fingertips brushing against his and then… nothing. He could feel the fifth broken black string hanging from his chest.

Shiro opened his eyes… Alone, empty space, night sky, red and blue stars.

“No!” cried Shiro, dropping to the ground wrapping his arms around his legs, burying his face between his knees. Suddenly he was so terrified, he couldn’t think. Not this place. Not trapped again. Not like before.

It had been a trick. A trap. A ruse to get Shiro back here and jail him in the infiniteness of the astral plane once again. But this time he had no connection to the Black Lion. No way to reach out. No way to communicate with the Paladins…

“I guess with that hair I can’t call you daddy anymore.”

That voice… It felt like Shiro’s imagination. He’d imagined it so many times.

“Maybe granddaddy?”

Shiro didn’t dare look up. What if he looked and he wasn’t there?

“Can you stand up so I can have a look at you already?”

“Wha…?” Now Shiro couldn’t resist. He got up, still seeing nothing, but feeling a presence circle behind his back. 

“I need to make sure it’s you,” said Adam’s voice behind him. “Rumour has it there are some Shiro clones floating around.”

Shiro spun around and looked at him, directly in the face. It was him. It was his Adam. Scruffy chestnut hair, brown eyes under thick glasses… Oh, he was a sight to be seen!

“Yeah, it’s you,” said Adam, still acting so casual as he leaned in to squint at Shiro’s eyes. “No one else can draw wings that sharp.”

“I’m not wearing eyeliner!” said Shiro, surprising himself with a laugh in his voice. This couldn’t be real. “You would know. We lived together.”

“The only thing I know,” said Adam, stressing the last word, “is I never caught you applying eyeliner.”

Shiro was shaking his head. He felt so much disbelief. Adam couldn’t really be in front of him, joking so casually. Since Shiro hadn’t responded, Adam looked like he was gearing up to say something else sarcastic and Shiro just... He lunged and hugged him.

“I can touch you,” gasped Shiro, marveling at the feeling of Adam back in his arms, but then he vaulted backwards, embarrassed. “I’m sorry. You probably hate me.”

“Takashi,” said Adam softly, giving his head just a little tilt. 

Then Shiro was back at it again, hugging Adam because his need to feel him in his arms was too great to ignore. Adam hugged him back and Shiro found himself crying and sputtering half-formed apologizes into Adam’s shoulder.

To think Shiro thought he could be more composed than this. That he could stand three feet back from Adam and issue a formal prepared statement he’d been brewing in his head since his shuttle to Kerberos left the tarmac. But this was Adam and Adam would always see through Shiro and he would always bring out what was buried inside him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	27. Top-Notch Parenting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Melenor questions Allura's devastation over Lance kissing Keith and helps her come to terms with the doubts she's been struggling with. Her mother then issues a challenge.

Chapter 29 – Top-Notch Parenting

“Lance, no!” Allura dropped to knees, crying, the vision of Lance kissing Keith seared into her brain. “How could he? I thought he loved me! How could he betray me?! That bastard!”

Her mother’s hand found her shoulder. “Now tell me daughter, are you really crying for Lance?”

The question confused Allura, had her mother not just watched her witness Lance kissing someone else then fall apart? But she had to stop herself and reflect. She’d just accused Lance of betraying her, of being a bastard, but really it’s not as if her and Lance were together. They had a flirtation going (one that had been one sided until recently,) but Lance had made no commitment to her. In fact they’d never so much as discussed their feelings for each other. If the Space Mice had told her Lance loved her, she never would’ve known, would’ve just assumed his flirting was his usual demeanor and never taken it seriously. So no, Lance didn’t deserve this reaction.

Lance’s flirting could be aggressive, but he was kind and courageous. He made a point to be there for Allura whenever she doubted herself. He had the biggest heart of any human she’d met. He was dear to her. Enough so that she wanted him to be happy and she didn’t begrudge him love no matter whom he shared it with. Of course, who would have ever expected it would come from Keith, but the surprise of that wouldn’t cause this hurt.

So then where was this pain stemming from? But she didn’t really need to search herself long to know the answer.

“No,” said Allura. “I’m not crying for Lance.”

“For who then?” asked Melenor. Allura hesitated. “Come now, Allura. Say his name. Don’t give it power by avoiding it.”

“Lotor,” said Allura, the name exiting her accompanied by a full body tremble. “I believed he wanted peace like I did. I thought we understood each other on every level possible. I thought he loved me, but…”

“That’s what narcassists do, dear,” said Melenor, taking her daughter’s hands in hers and drawing her back to her feet. “They pretend to be whatever it is you desire the most. They charm you into believing their intentions are pure so they can feed off your adoration of them. But eventually cracks in the façade start to show and once they no longer get the love and worship they want, they snap and reveal their true selves.”

“But the whole time I was falling in love,” said Allura, feeling so deeply sickened, “he was committing genocide against my people. How can I forgive myself for being so blind to his treachery?” Now she understood exactly why her mother wasn’t proud of her. “No wonder you’re disappointed in me.”

“I’m not disappointed in you for being fooled by him,” said Melenor. “I don’t expect you to be perfect, daughter. We all make missteps. My misstep got me killed. No, my disappointment is in how you failed to forgive yourself and move on. How you let the heartbreak and the embarrassment shrink you.”

“But how can I be trusted as a leader if the choice I made gave unimaginable power to a maniac?” cried Allura, so frustrated that her mother didn’t understand. It was so obvious Allura had poor judgment.

“If you don’t like the leader you are,” said Melenor, sticking a finger right in her daughter’s face, “then get better! The solution to not meeting your own standards is not to try less. It’s not to give up. It’s to learn from your mistakes and become greater than you’ve ever been before. That is the real test of a leader. Didn’t your Lance give you just this advice?”

It was so clear in Allura’s memory… How Lance had held her as she cried and said, “Let me tell you, as someone whose made a million mistakes all you can do is get up and try to make it right. You can’t doubt yourself now. We need you. The universe needs you.”

“But you didn’t heed his message, daughter. You chose to fall in love with the messenger instead of falling back in love with yourself.”

Allura wrapped her arms around herself, feeling the chill of confronting a deep truth. She hadn’t expected anyone to forgive her for Lotor, to still believe in her, but Lance had offered her redemption of quickly. She needed that feeling, that relief from the guilt. She’d hungered for it so she began going to him to get it. It was a small addiction, the desire to give him a smile so she could get one back, but an addiction nonetheless. She wanted to feel desired by him because she was so angry with herself, she needed a way to balance it out and feel okay.

“You must forgive yourself, Allura,” said Melenor.

“I don’t deserve it,” shot Allura, the confession rocketing out of her.

“Whether you feel you do or not, that does not matter,” said her mother. “To be the leader you were meant to be, the one I raised you to be, you need to let go of your doubts. Altea needs you.”

“Altea is gone!” cried Allura.

“Altea is glory!” said Melenor, her voice booming. “No peace can come without sacrifice. No life can begin without blood spilt. As long as one heart beats, Altea lives. Does your heart still beat daughter?”

“Yes…”

“Then Altea lives within you. Altea needs you. And this is why it is time you coronate and become the Queen you were meant to be.”

Allura actually forgot this was a fight and began laughing.

“This is no laughing matter,” Melenor scolded. “You have put off you coronation for far too long. Enough with the Princess title, you need to become Queen.”

“Queen of who?” asked Allura, a laugh still in her voice. “Coran and Romelle?”

“One heartbeat, Allura. You could be Queen of yourself for all I care. At least then maybe you’d have self-control rather than going along with what others ask of you. Besides, do you really believe you’re the only three Alteans in existence?”

“The Colony,” breathed Allura. “But the Blade found no one.”

“You have a fourth Altean in Garrison custody,” said Melenor.

“And she may have come from the missing residents of the Colony,” gasped Allura. How had she not put this together yet? That Altean was in their only healing pod, fighting for her life. To think she may have answers. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Allura felt a sense of purpose again. Bravo, mother. Top-notch parenting. “I need to get back to my body. I need to work on finding my people.”

“Wrong,” said Melenor. Which was a shock. Wasn’t this what her mother wanted? “First you coronate.”

“I will become Queen after I’ve found myself people,” said Allura.

“You shall become Queen and their Queen shall find them.”

“But finding them will prove I’m worthy of being their Queen.”

“It’s not about becoming worthy. It’s about owning that you already are worthy.” Melenor began to pace. “Your father was the greatest alchemist our history had ever known. Looking at the Lions, there is no about that. But you Allura are our future and you are infinitely more powerful than him.”

“No I’m…,” began Allura. “I’m talented, but…”

“Your diadem Allura…”

Allura went to touch it, but of course it was gone, sacrificed to save Shiro’s life. Allura wasn’t even marked as a Princess anymore…

“When Alfor got his hands on the trans-reality comet, he loved the metal so much, he manipulated it with is powers formed pieces of it into power crystals. He then replaced all the royal jewels with them.”

“So the jewel on my diadem…”

“Was not a typical power crystal, but made from the same material as Voltron.”

“I sacrificed it to power Shiro’s arm.”

“Yes, Shiro,” said Melenor, looking amused. “I wasn’t kidding when I said he was practically Altean. When you moved his quintessence over from the Black Lion to his clone body, did you know you dropped a bit of your own in there?”

“What?” gasped Allura.

“Think about what happened with the Atlas. It wasn’t made from trans-reality material. It was made from common Earth rocks, yet with Shiro’s power and Shiro’s arm he –”

“It transformed into a robot even larger than Voltron,” gasped Allura.

“That was your doing, daughter,” explained Melenor. “You gave Shiro alchemy powers. Alfor needed to make the Lions entirely out of the comet, but you just had the tiniest piece in Shiro’s arm and it was enough to transform the entire Atlas.”

“But how? How was that small piece powerful because of me?”

“Because you wore it for so long. The metal is nothing without quintessence and you’ve been infusing it with yours for ten thousand years. Blew it entirely full after multiple trips to the quintessence field.” Melenor threw out her arms and said, “You are the most impressive alchemist to live in a thousand realities and soon you shall also be a Queen.”

Allura felt herself teetering on the edge. A tiny step and she’d go careening down into acceptance of a truth that was too vast and deep to ever reach the bottom of. Meanwhile she could simply turn around and have a nice leisurely stroll back to denial.

It must’ve been the intensity of Melenor’s stare that reminded Allura exactly who she was. She was her mother’s daughter. “I made you a promise,” Allura said, her voice gaining back her authority, a voice she hadn’t dared to use in so long… “I promised to fall in love with my duty and to learn to love the fight. Today I do both.”

There it was, pride in Melenor’s eyes. “Do you remember what I told you of our coronation traditions? What must be done?”

“Yes,” said Allura, pulling out her Blue Bayard and willing it to spark to life as her energy whip. “I, Allura, Princess of Altea, challenge you for the crown!”

“You may take it, daughter,” said Melenor with a smirk. “When you remove it from my broken body.” In her hand a glowing white trident materialized. “I crafted this from stars I plucked from the astral plane so make no mistake, daughter. It can kill you. If you fail to remove the crown from my head, the punishment will be soul-death. Do you accept these terms?”

“I accept,” said Allura.

“Then come at me though I must warn you. I’ve had 10,000 years to practice.” Melenor spun her trident, letting out a warrior’s cry.

Allura echoed her cry, drawing back her whip as she charged her mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	28. Let's get meta (physical, physical...I want to get metaphysical!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Punk and Klance are reunited. Bored gives Team Punk a lesson in the metaphysical. Klance finds out they committed themselves to more than just being boyfriends.

Chapter 28 – Let’s get meta (physical, physical…I want to get metaphysical!)

“There’s the path to the Astral Plane,” said Bored pointing down. “It cuts between Memory and Imagination and Dreams.”

Pidge and Hunk used their jet packs to lower themselves down to the path set between those ghostly grey figures.

“So exactly where we left off,” said Pidge, sarcastically. “Great tour guiding.” As soon as they hit the ground, their paladin armor morphed back into the clothes they’d been wearing for the séance. 

“You strayed and you were lost,” said Bored, touching down. “You weren’t getting out of my realm without a guide. The dimensions make no sense.” She turned to look at the grey figures. “Ugh these memories keep climbing up the cliffs and crowding the path.” Bored karate chopped and kicked at the grey figures and they fell back, fading away. “Get back to the basement, Jeremy!”

“You… know that one?” asked Hunk.

“Naw, I nicknamed most of them Jeremy. They look like Jeremies, don’t they?”

“What’s… happening to you?” asked Hunk. Bored’s appearance was changing. Her body grew to the size of an adult and the pointed ears and child’s dress were replaced by metallic skin.

“This is my preferred physical expression. I only do the Altean child bit to freak out souls who wander into my realm. I used to appear to them as a clown, but some wanderers found that assuming rather than terrifying. Can you believe some people aren’t afraid of clowns?”

“That’s crazy,” said Hunk. “Clowns are literally what nightmares are made of.”

“Exactly! And I should know because I’m a Guardian of the Dream realm. Nightmares are 18.7% of what I do. But creepy elf child, freaks them out every single time.”

“Right? Alteans are just elves!” said Hunk. “Thank you! I know we’re all thinking it, but I was waiting for someone to say it.” Hunk and Pidge followed Bored as she led them forward on the path. “You know, when you’re not trying to actively kill us, you’re alright, Bored,” said Hunk. “The three of us should hangout sometime in a non-murdery context.”

“I’d like that,” said Bored. “I do exist in some physical realities. I have form in yours.”

“Wait… How does that work if you’re also a realm guardian or whatever?”

“Do you not understand the connection between quintessence, souls, realities, and planes?” asked Bored.

“Uh, no,” said Pidge. “We tend to deal with science, not spiritualism.”

“It is science,” said Bored. “Just because you don’t understand it, doesn’t make it not.”

“Okay, I’ll bite,” said Pidge. “What’s the connection?”

“Every living thing has a soul and since we exist across multiple realities, all versions of yourself share a soul. That soul it kept here, in the non-physical planes, usually in the After, but it is possible for it to travel to other areas like the astral plane and Dreams, guardian permitting. Oh, like you right now. Your souls are travelling all over the place now that you’re in them.”

“So if we share our souls with multiple reality versions of us, how do we only have the memories from one reality?” asked Pidge.

“Good question,” said Bored. “That’s because your quintessence is your life force, your connection between reality and your soul and on it is imprinted your consciousness. So when your quintessence travelled from your bodies in your realm to reunite with your soul, it brought the imprint of your consciousness from your reality.”

“Okay so like how I have multiple email accounts and I can read my main emails on my phone,” said Hunk, “But they are also backed up on the cloud with my other accounts?”

“That analogy… works,” said Bored.

“Especially since the Cloud is just as mysterious as the After.”

“So when our body dies in one reality…,” began Pidge.

“Your quintessence, along with your consciousness returns to your soul and then your soul gets to have all the memories of your past lives. And sometimes it’s fun because I’ll throw you a bone and allow you to dream of your past life.”

“I once had a dream that I was a sandwich,” said Hunk. “Was that a past life?”

“Oh, maybe,” said Bored. “I’d have check when your consciousness isn’t imprinted on your soul and I can dig through the past stuff.”

Pidge sighed and Hunk realized she was getting sick of this metaphysical talk. “How much farther to the astral plane?” she asked.

“Let me check,” said Bored, teleporting ahead.

As soon as the talking stopped, Hunk became aware of a grunting noise nearby.

“Give me a boost,” came Lance’s voice.

“How can I give you a boost? I’m ahead of you,” answered Keith.

“Guys!” shrieked Pidge and Hunk together.

“Pidge? Hunk?” answered Lance’s voice.

“Where are you?”

“Down here,” replied Lance.

Pidge followed the voice and karate chopped the grey figures out of the way. Once clear, Hunk could see the edge of a cliff that hadn’t been visible before, but must’ve been what they’d fallen off earlier. A hand grabbed at the edge and suddenly Keith’s body materialized attached to it. 

“I’m so glad you’re both okay! Bored told us one of you was going to go poof so we were going to come save you, but then she checked again and said we wouldn’t need to.” Hunk grabbed hold of his hand and pulled Keith up the rest of the way.

“I don’t understand most of that,” said Keith as he turned and helped Lance get up to his feet.

“We thought one of your souls was going to die,” said Pidge. “It’s so good to see you’re both okay.”

“Yeah, it’s cool,” said Lance, puffing out his chest. “I saved mullet-boy. I was real brave.”

Hunk and Pidge didn’t have a come back since they were both staring at the fact that Keith and Lance were still holding hands despite the fact that Lance was on solid ground and didn’t need the help anymore.

“Oh, did that happen finally?” asked Hunk, pointing at their linked hands.

Lance immediately responded on the defensive. “Yeah, Hunk! We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it!”

“Dude,” said Hunk, rolling his eyes. “We fly a pride of lions that shoot rainbows out of their butts before transforming into a metal dominatrix. Voltron has always been suuuuuuper gay.”

“Whoa,” cried Lance. “Wait… Shiro’s gay and Keith’s gay and… Are all the Paladins gay?” Lance looked at Pidge.

Pidge blushed and said, “That’s kind of a loaded question. I mean identity is multifaceted. Each person is a combination of gender (or lack there of,) of gender expression (or lack there of,) romantic attraction (or lack there of,) and sexual attraction (or lack there of.) All of these exist on a spectrum in which a human intersects through each creating a whole and complex being with no other exactly like it.” Everyone stared at her, lost. “But whatever, round me off to gay.”

“Nice! Hunk?”

Hunk blushed and scratched the back of his head. “I dunno, man. Now that we have the possibility of all these aliens species and their different genders in the dating pool, I think we should really just abandon all labels and celebrate each love as special.”

Lance sniffed. “That’s deep, man.”

“No,” grumbled Pidge. “That’s a simplified version of what I just said. Mine was deep. His was closer to shallow.”

“Yeah, but I understood his,” said Lance.

“Because he oversimplified a complicated issue.”

“Whatever, Pidge. Stop hatin’. Love wins. Go team Gaytron!”

Pidge leaned over so she could direct this at Keith, “Why are you attracted to him exactly?”

Keith shrugged. “I dunno. He’s really cute. Except for this area here…” Keith gestured to Lance’s mouth.

“Did you just gesture to my mouth?” gasped Lance.

“Yeah, it’s where the annoying noise comes out, but the rest of you is good.”

“You didn’t have any complaints about my mouth when we were making out earlier!”

“Oh look,” said Pidge. “Now it’s super awkward.”

“When I say Gay, you say Tron,” cheered Lance suddenly. “Gay -”

“Tron!” cheered Hunk.

“Gay -”

“Tron!”

“C’mon Keith, join in,” said Lance, tugging on his hand. “When I say Gay, you say Tron. Gay –”

“Vol…tron?”

“Dude, seriously?”

“I don’t get what we’re doing!” moaned Keith.

“Good news!” said Bored, popping back into the spot she’d just vacated. “We’re nearly there. Oh, hello?” Bored titled her head to the side, looking confused as she looked at Lance and Keith.

“Who’s the naked metal chick?” asked Lance.

“I’m not naked. I’m wearing my skin.”

“That’s the very definition of naked.”

“No, naked would imply you can see my genitals, but I don’t have anyway.”

“Okay, I didn’t ask for your life story,” sassed Lance with a dismissive wave.

“This is Bored,” said Pidge, making introductions. “Bored, this is Lance and Keith.”

“What?” Bored looked confused again.

“The furries from the basement,” added Pidge.

“Oh my ancient ones, there’s two of you!” Bored suddenly gasped. “Apologies. When I’m not in my realm I only see souls and not their physical expressions. I wasn’t expecting two consciousness’s to be residing in one soul.

“What?” said all the Paladins at once.

“There’s two people in that soul,” said Bored, pointing at spot between Lance and Keith.

“There’s… two souls…,” said Hunk, hesitantly.

“No, I would know,” said Bored.

“Wouldn’t we know?” questioned Keith.

“Obviously not,” said Bored. “But you were two souls going into the basement, right? I thought one of you died.”

“WHAT?” said everyone at once.

“You told us they were fine!” cried Hunk.

“Uh no. I told you your help wasn’t needed in the basement as in, it was too late. I only saw the one soul.”

“Oh, that was deliberately unclear!” accused Pidge.

“So what must’ve happened was…,” said Bored, looking thoughtful. “Did you two make some kind of vow to each other while emo furry was dying?”

“Emo furry?” questioned Keith.

Lance fielded the question. “Only that we loved each other and always wanted to be together and that we’d have grandkids together and make love on top of a mountain top. But other than that…”

“This is the first I’m hearing of the mountain top,” said Keith.

“Grandkids and then mountain love making?” asked Hunk. “But you’ll be so old…”

“So you did make a vow while one of you was experiencing soul-death,” said Bored with a nod. “Yes, that explains it. You soul-merged.”

“Whaaaaaaat?” asked Lance. Keith just stared like he couldn’t even understand it well enough to question it.

“And you did it by accident,” said Bored, letting out a snort. “Oh no, that is funny!”

“Switch it back!” demanded Keith.

“Hey now,” said Lance, kinda hurt.

“I can’t,” said Bored, now laughing. “There’s no reversing a soul-merge.”

“We didn’t ask for this!” snapped Keith.

Bored was now laughing so hard she couldn’t respond.

“Hey, babe, it’s cool,” said Lance. “We want to be together anyway. It’s just a little more official than we planned, but we’ll make it work.”

“It’s not just…. just that,” said Bored between gasps for air. “There’s so many repercussions…”

“Of course there is,” groaned Lance, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

“This is going to echo through all version of yourself through all realities, past, present, and future.”

“Time is involved too?” asked Pidge.

“Souls exist outside time,” giggled Bored. “And now all versions of you share one. Oh my ancient ones… I gotta check on your other existences!” Bored’s eyes went from piercing grey to pure white. “Wow,” she said, seeing something they couldn’t. “There is so much pinning.”

“What does that mean?” asked Hunk.

“Well, now all your consciousnesses want to be together, but you can’t always. You’re going to be so dissatisfied in all realities where you never get together. Oh! And the ones where you’re both straight! You’re never going to be happy!” This was somehow really, really funny to Bored.

“Can I kill you?” asked Keith. “Would that help anything?”

“Hold on, hold on,” said Bored, waving him off as her pure white eyes looked at things the rest couldn’t see. “So much angst and pinning. Wow.”

“I just met you, but I don’t think I like you,” said Lance.

“She gives a bad first impression,” said Hunk, “but she grows on you.”

“There’s one where your kingdoms are at war,” giggled Bored. “Ohhhh and you kill yourselves!”

“Aw we are Romeo and Juliette,” said Lance.

“She’s laughing about us dying in other realities!” snapped Keith.

“Oh look, there’s a lot where you do end up together,” said Bored. “Where you’re wizards and dancers and students…”

“Wizard dancer students?” repeated Lance.

“Ohhhh, but I don’t know about this one,” said Bored.

“We can’t see what you’re seeing,” said Pidge.

“It’s a reality really close to yours. It branched off right after your last big battle. Attraction is there, but I cannot tell where it’s going. I mean it’s basically your reality if you never came here.”

“And were forced to confess our feelings to each other…,” said Lance.

“Yeah, interesting to see where that goes,” said Bored with a shrug. Her eyes returned to normal, but then she took one look at Lance and Keith (or I guess their shared soul?) and burst out laughing again.

“Okay, well, I can’t even begin to process this,” said Lance with a shrug, “so maybe we go find Shiro and Allura?”

“Please,” agreed Pidge, starting to move.

The others fell in line behind her, Keith and Lance still holding hands. Bored followed them, still laughing to herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	29. Our After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally reunited with Adam, Shiro is able to say all the things he's been meaning to say.

Chapter 29 - Our After 

“I’m so sorry this happened to you,” said Shiro squeezing Adam tightly. His composure wasn’t regained just yet. He was still crying.

“You’re sorry something bad happened… to me?” questioned Adam.

“It wasn’t supposed to go this way for you. You were supposed to be happy,” cried Shiro.

“Okay, hold up, girl,” said Adam, pulling back. “Let’s take a seat. Obviously we need to hash some things out.”

Adam guided Shiro down to the ground so they could sit crossed legged, their knees touching. It reminded Shiro of when they were younger, sitting up late on Adam’s bed, talking. Mohammed’s snoring… Reece threatening to put cayenne pepper in their jockstraps if they didn’t shut up and sleep already.

“Okay so you’re upset that I died,” said Adam, pulling Shiro’s hand into his lap. “I can relate. You died on me too.”

“I…,” began Shiro. “Okay, I did feel bad about that,” admitted Shiro. “Knowing that you would think I was dead…”

“You know how I’m a little bit psychic?” asked Adam.

“Yeah,” said Shiro, rolling his eyes like he always did when Adam claimed to be psychic. He’d long since learned that there was no point in trying to argue Adam out of this belief. But then again… Magic was real so maybe Adam really was a little bit psychic. 

“I always had this bad feeling about Kerberos,” said Adam, his brown eyes darkening. “That if you went, I’d never see you again…”

This made Shiro start to cry again. “Guess you were right.”

“Well, I’m seeing you now, so take that fate,” said Adam and snapped his fingers up at the sky. Shiro marveled at how much he’d missed Adam’s mannerisms.

“It’s so strange,” said Adam, getting serious again. “I mourned for you when I thought you’d died on the Kerberos mission. Then Keith ran off and I never heard from him again. I was a hot mess afterwards, but holding it together. Then one day Sam Holt, alive and well, bursts into my office…” Adam started to laugh. “And I could tell he was not supposed to talk to me because I could hear Colleen out in the hall yelling at someone to leave us be… And Sam tells me you’re alive and fighting in an intergalactic war in space and Keith’s with you and you’re both piloting robot lions or whatever. And then he handed me this device that had a video file…”

Shiro remembered recording that message, holding the tiny camera in front of him while he said, “Adam, I’m sorry… for leaving. You probably think I’m dead, but I wanted you to know I’m alive and Keith is with me and… I miss you… I know what you said, but I hope when I do get back to Earth… whenever that may be… that you’ll be willing to see me because… I really want to see you.” Shiro went to turn off the camera, but he couldn’t just leave it there. “I still love you… I’m sorry if you’re happy and that’s not information you want to have. Maybe I’m selfish for saying it. I just… Life is short and unpredictable and if I’ve learned anything it’s to say what I mean while I have the chance.”

“My clone recorded that message,” said Shiro. “Although I remember it since I have my clone’s memories… Or does my clone have my memories? Am I me or my clone? Geez I don’t want to get into this logic loop again. My head turns into an Escher painting every time I try to figure it out.”

“You’re you, Takashi,” said Adam with a kind smile. “I would know. I’ve always known you better than you know yourself.”

Shiro chuckled softly. “If you say so, I believe it.” Then he frowned. “You know when I recorded that I actually was dead…”

“It’s funny… or maybe not funny at all… when I died,” said Adam, “my consciousness arrived in the After and they told me you were actually dead and I searched for you, but you weren’t there.”

“Because I was here, in the astral plane,” said Shiro. “The Black Lion kept me here.”

“When I found that out,” continued Adam, “I started working on coming here myself. It took a long time, but I convinced one of the realm’s guardians to let me past the veil. Have you met Melenor?”

“No.”

“My fellow queen. You’d love her. I haven’t known her long, but pretty sure she’s my new Ride or Die B*tch. Anyway as fate would have it by the time I got here, you were alive again.”

“Oh, Adam…” sighed Shiro, marveling at their terrible timing.

“So I threw a queen sized fit and started harassing a Dream guardian to let me reach out to you in your sleep.”

“I can’t believe what you went through,” sighed Shiro.

“What I went through?” scoffed Adam. He rubbed the back of his head and gave those short curls a toss. “Hun, maybe we should talk about what you’ve gone through. Mel B let me see it all and I’m just so… so in awe of you. I always knew you were destined for greatness, Takashi. I just had no concept of the scale of which you’d be great.”

Even when Adam was dead, he was still so supportive. “Adam, I’m sorry about Kerberos and I want to explain why I chose to go. I know I made it seem like all I cared about was going on the mission of a lifetime, but it started long before Kerberos was an option… It started when we got engaged,” said Shiro, gulping back the emotion that threatened to collapse him back into tears. “It’s when it really hit me that I couldn’t provide a proper life for you…” There, he said it.

“Takashi…,” began Adam, but Shiro needed to push through and say it all.

“We couldn’t adopt a baby together because there wasn’t time to raise one so you couldn’t have the full experience of being a dad which is such a shame because you would’ve been an incredible parent. And we would only have a few years before I got really sick and started to lose control over my body. I was going to end up in a hospital bed in our home with you changing my bed pan and then after that I’d be in the real hospital, having lost the ability to speak and you’d have to sit by my bed side and hold my hand while I wasted away…” Shiro began crying.

“I love holding your hand,” said Adam, giving Shiro’s hand a squeeze. He leaned forward so Shiro could rest his head on Adam’s shoulder because he just couldn’t seem to keep upright on his own anymore.

“When Kerberos came up… I wanted to do it. The fact that Sanda was telling me I wasn’t capable made me want to do it more, but… I also used it as an excuse to push you away. I never wanted to break up, I loved you, but I felt so much guilt over what you’d be missing out on by staying with me. I wanted you to find someone who you could have a real life with, could adopt kids with, and grow old together with. It was a thought I kept myself warm with when I was fighting in the gladiator pits and later when I was trapped here. So when I finally got back to Earth and discovered you’d died fighting Sendak’s forces…” Shiro was suddenly crying so hard he had to stop and gulp it back before he could go on. “It wasn’t supposed to end like this. You were supposed to be happy.”

“Takashi…,” said Adam, stroking the back of Shiro’s hand with his thumb. “First of all I did eventually realize that’s why you did it. It seemed really out of character for you to just disregard my feelings and agree to the mission. At the time it really hurt, it felt like you were rejecting me.”

“I’m so sorry…”

“I did eventually come to the realization that you were trying to protect me in your own misguided way. But you didn’t need to protect me from loving you. I knew what your health was when I proposed to you. I had already weighed my options and decided I would rather have a few short years as your husband than go without. I wanted every moment possible with you. Had only wanted to spend time with you since I met you in school. That’s why I kept asking you to come along with me when we were teens. I wanted you with me, always.”

Shiro had convinced himself that he’d slowly worn Adam down into liking him, but really it had been the other way round.

“Also, I didn’t need to adopt a baby to be a mama,” said Adam. “I’ve been adopting kids and raising them since I was a kid myself. I adopted you, didn’t I?”

“I guess I didn’t think of it that way.”

“Then you adopted Keith. You learned that from me, hun. And when you were both gone, I adopted a whole bunch of new cadets and proceeded to raise them. I’m a mama. That’s just part of my personality…”

“I guess it is,” admitted Shiro. “There’s a lot of ways to build a family. You taught me that.”

“When it came to marrying you I’d already made my decision for me, for my life, for what I wanted. So what really hurt when I realized you pushed me away, thinking I’d be better off, was that you were ignoring my agency and making a decision for me.”

“You’re right,” said Shiro.

“You should’ve told me about how you felt guilty,” said Adam. “Because I could’ve helped with that. But you shut me out.”

“I’m sorry,” said Shiro. “I’d convinced myself I was being selfless out of love, but I realize now it was selfish and my plan didn’t work anyway. I didn’t bargain a better life for you. I feel so guilty.”

“Takashi, I’m proud of myself,” stressed Adam. “I’m not sorry I died because I did it in the line of duty. I went out there as a squadron leader and helped lead the charge to defend Earth against Sendak’s forces. Just because I wasn’t successful doesn’t mean I wasn’t heroic.”

“Of course,” said Shiro, sitting back up. “I’m sorry.” He was apologizing so much. He couldn’t stop.

“You should understand. You gave your life a couple times, didn’t you?” Adam got quiet then said, “Maybe I could’ve been at peace if I hadn’t wanted to see you so badly.” Adam gave Shiro a weak smile. “I know you leaving meant the end of us, but it’s clear you had a destiny to fulfill. I’m really proud of you, Takashi.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you,” said Shiro. “I wouldn’t be who I am now if you hadn’t helped me become it.”

“You were already great,” said Adam. “I just helped you realize it.”

“I miss you so much,” said Shiro.

Adam took his free hand and brushed his thumb across Shiro’s cheekbone. Shiro leaned into it, allowing Adam to cup his cheek in his hand. “Did I ever tell you about the moment I fell in love with you?”

“No,” said Shiro. “I fell in love with you on the Garrison rooftop.”

“Shhh, my story now,” said Adam, removing his hand from Shiro’s cheek so he could press a finger to his lips. “It was orientation day at the Garrison.”

“But we didn’t meet on orientation day,” said Shiro, interrupting. “We met on the first day of class.”

“Zip it. I’m talking now,” warned Adam. “It was orientation day and you hadn’t arrived yet so I’d only met Reece and Mohammed before my parents took me out to dinner. I didn’t get back until curfew and when I got to our room everyone was asleep including you. I wanted to check out the fresh meat so I tipped toed over to your bed to take a look at you.” Adam was looking off into the distance like he was seeing it all. “The moonlight was pouring in from the window onto your face and you looked like an angel. You were so beautiful and I thought – well you know how I’m a little bit psychic?”

“Yes,” replied Shiro, without rolling his eyes this time.

“I thought, ‘I am going to marry that pretty boy.’” Adam sighed deeply. “I guess that one didn’t come true either.”

“Adam,” said Shiro, the tears entering his eyes again. “Forget everything I’ve accomplished. Nothing would’ve made me more proud than to be your husband.”

“Oh Takashi,” said Adam and then they were kissing, clumsily, bumping noses and missing targets because they were both laughing and crying at the same time. “Maybe in another reality you’re my husband.”

“I hope so. You are the most amazing person I’ve ever met.”

“I know,” agreed Adam with a cocky smile. “I feel the same about you. I’m so glad I made you gay.”

“You have to stop saying you made me gay,” laughed Shiro. “I was always gay.”

“Then I’ve brainwashed you well.”

Shiro laughed, free and easy like he had a million times in school. “Have I mentioned yet I missed you?”

“Not nearly enough.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	30. The Lion, the Ancient One, and the Crown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Altean tradition demands that in order to coronate Allura must defeat her mother in battle. Queen Melenor has gained great power in death and shows no mercy. Allura must discover what unique abilities she possesses herself in order to be worthy of the crown.

Chapter 30 – The Lion, the Ancient One, and the Crown

Allura’s whip clashed against her mother’s trident as they traded blows.

“I remember my coronation like it was yesterday,” said Melenor, her voice hoarse from the battle. “Alfor went before me and challenged his father. The king then was an Alchemist too, happy to step down and let his son take the crown. To say he went easy on Alfor was an understatement. They traded a few blows for show before the king took a fall and relented.”

Melenor’s talking seemed to give her more power rather than distract her and Allura found herself being forced back. Still, this was the infinite space of the astral plane so there was no ground to lose.

“I challenged Alfor’s mother next. The queen was of warrior stock. Grew up in Altea’s moulvan forest, practically raised by klanmuirls. Our battle raged for seventeen vergas before I pulled this crown from her bloodied head. She had to spend two phoebs in the healing pods and even then she still walked with a limp for the rest of her life.” Melenor grinned viciously like the memory of doing permanent harm to her mother-in-law brought her great pleasure.

“So I take it,” said Allura, cracking her whip again only to have it blocked by her mother’s trident, “you won’t go easy on me.”

“Never,” said Melenor, “And here’s the start of it…” 

Melenor let out her battle cry and charged Allura. Allura cracked her whip, but Melenor dodged and let the whip wrap around her trident instead. Melenor yanked hard on the trident, the whip going taut and the force causing Allura to lose her footing and get thrown. Allura hit the ground hard, face down, her whip still in her hand.

“This is the first reason why you’ll fail,” said Melenor, kicking her daughter in the stomach so that Allura rolled onto her back. Then Melenor was straddling her, her trident raised. Allura tried to pull back her whip in order to crack it, but on her back there was nowhere for her arm to recoil. “You can’t attack me at close range with that thing.”

Her mother was right. Melenor drew back her trident, ready to deliver a killing blow, to bury that trident in Allura’s chest. Allura knew in that moment her mother would not show mercy, even though she’d been warned, Allura had held onto that assumption, had held back herself because of it. But now the truth of it struck her, she would perish and Altea would have no leader, have no one to search for the members of the colony. Allura couldn’t allow that, she had to be that leader.

Allura stopped bracing herself for death and began yearning for life. She saw the trident coming down as she felt warmth from her Bayard. She closed her eyes for impact, but none came, she opened her eyes again and saw in her hand… “An Altean broadsword,” Allura gasped. It had materialized from her Bayard and blocked her mother’s trident.

Now they were locked in a battle of strength, but the difference was Allura had the ground to brace her while her mother could be made unsteady. Allura bent her knee and used her leg to twist and push her hips, rolling her mother off her, pushing with her sword to keep her back as she popped up to her feet, her sword at the ready.

Her mother took a knee and Allura used that moment to marvel at the broadsword in her hand. She’d been able to call her father’s sword while using the Blue Bayard!

“Congratulations,” said Melenor and for a moment Allura believed this was what her mother had wanted. That pinning her had merely been a lesson. But then Melenor added, “You’ve managed to be as good as your father, a swashbuckling wannabe knight who chummed around with his friends, fighting battles they had no business being in. Who was could win inside his giant robot when he was on the offensive, but crumbled without Voltron when he was on the defensive.” Allura felt sick hearing her father, who she’d always looked up to described this way. 

“He let Altea die. He was also someone I could beat with both hands tied behind my back,” said Melenor. She used her trident to stand and then swung it around. “Warm up’s over.”

Melenor was suddenly charging Allura again. Allura had just enough time to block her attack with her sword. Melenor was moving so fast now, with lightning speed. Allura was barely keeping up. Since Allura was distracted just trying to block her mother’s blows, Melenor was able to slip a foot behind Allura’s and trip her.

Allura landed on her knees and immediately spun to spring back up. She couldn’t count on her mother not striking her while she was down. She had to stay on her toes, literally.

Allura came at her mother, swinging her sword, but her mother kept jumping back away from the tip. The third time Allura missed she over swung, twisting her body so her back was exposed. Melenor’s trident smacked her across the back, causing Allura to stumble forwards. Before her footing was righted she felt the trident connect with the side of her head. 

“No inferior shall wear my crown!”

Allura spun to block the next blow with one hand on her sword as the other grabbed the side of her head. The trident had hit her right in the ear and she could tell from the warm liquid pooling in her palm that it was bleeding. The problem was, she was half as strong with only one hand on the grip of her sword and her mother’s blows were threatening to knock it out of her hand. Allura decided to forget the ear and use both hands.

For once she caught her mother off guard and when she swung this time with the full force of her body strength she was able to catch her mother with the edge of the blade. Either Melenor felt no pain from the cut on her shoulder because of her powers or she simply wasn’t showing anyway. Melenor was already attacking again and Allura was struggling to block her blows as she realized she needed to get out of her own head and live inside the battle.

Allura swung. Melenor blocked it with her grip splayed on her trident. She reared back and pushed hard and Allura was caught mid step and fell. She rolled and got to feet just in time to block another blow.

“Son defeats father! Daughter defeats mother! Child defeats parent! Alchemist against alchemist! Warrior against warrior! Each ruler stronger than the last! For the glory of Altea!”

Allura felt like she was in a waltz, but she didn’t know the steps and was fumbling to keep up. Her mother body-checked her and Allura nearly topped, but dug her blade into the ground as support. Wrong move as she couldn’t get it up in time to block her mother’s trident which came at her points first. In desperation Allura dropped the Bayard and grabbed the trident with her bare hands, stopping the points millimeters from her breast.

“What do you bring that makes you worthy of my crown?” asked Melenor through gritted teeth. She pushed harder. It took all of Allura’s strength to keep those sharp ends from piercing her flesh, her bone, her heart…

“I am the culmination of a hundred generations of royals skilled in alchemy and combat,” growled Allura. She hadn’t even decided to speak, it was rolling straight from her thoughts and out her mouth. “I am the greatest alchemist in a thousand realms!” It escaped her as a shout and in her hands Allura felt the trident grow hot. As the heat increased it began to glow white and suddenly it burst apart! Ten millions shards of star shooting outwards!

Allura felt the tiny pieces hitting her, sinking in where they found bare flesh. She saw the same happen to her mother. A dozen cuts freshly opened on Melenor’s face.

Melenor didn’t react to her weapon being destroyed or the pain of the wounds. She simply turned and paced away, leaving Allura gasping for breath, amazed at what she’d accomplished.

“So what?” came Melenor’s voice, low and cruel. “Every royal pairing has an alchemist. You’re not special, daughter.”

“But you said…,” began Allura, the words hurting more than injuries she’d sustained during the fight.

“I told you to wear this crown you must defeat me. You must be worthy of replacing me.” When Melenor turned to look back at her daughter her eyes were pure black giving Allura a start. Melenor spread her arms out and Allura watched as Melenor summoned energy from the sky of the astral plane. Ribbons of black with pinpricks of stars drifted down and encircling her arms like snaking spells ready to be cast.

“That’s cheating,” said Allura.

Melenor just smirked. “Every queen must be more powerful than the last. I am still queen of Altea.” Power entered her voice. “I am the keeper of the veil between this realm and the after! And I am a Guardian of the astral plane! Second only to the Black Lion itself! That is the queen you must best!”

Melenor threw her power forward. Allura grabbed her Bayard and formed a shield, ducking behind it as the energy her mother shot at her blasted by her like a windstorm. It was howling and Allura could feel her Bayard’s shield weakening. It failed and suddenly Allura was being thrown, tossing, tumbling, being pushed along by the blast of energy. Finally it passed and she stopped, sprawled out on the ground, unable to move.

In the last battle, the Altean powered robot had sucked the life force out of Voltron, leaving the pilots depleted of their life force. This felt worse than that.

Allura’s vision was blurred from hitting her head one (or ten) too many times. What was coming into focus didn’t make sense. Ahead of her, in the distance the world was lightening like a sun was rising in the astral plane and in front of it she could see the silhouettes of people, hundreds, maybe thousands of people approaching and then standing at a distance. When her eyes adjusted she could see their faces and they were… Alteans! Ones she knew from her past, but not grey like the memory figures from before. Then Allura realized what that light was. It was the After. The veil was lifting…

“Alteans…,” breath Allura into the ground. “Have you brought them…?” she began, needing a few more gasps of air before she could finish, “…to watch you kill me?”

“I didn’t summon them,” said Melenor, surprisingly close and more surprisingly, sounding very calm. “I question who did summon my people.”

“They’re mine,” said Allura, bitterly into the dirt. A moment ago she’d given up but seeing the souls of those lost when Altea was destroyed reminded her of what was at stake. She wouldn’t let her people be wiped out again. She would find the residents of the colony and she would find them as queen!

“I’ll fight you for them,” said her mother playfully.

Allura got to her feet, holding her sides because the agony of the pain made her feel like her insides were looking to spill out. 

It was a wonder her mother was even waiting for her, wasn’t striking her when she was most weak. As if reading her mind her mother said, “I’ll give you this one for free.”

“I’ll make you regret that,” said Allura, dropping her arms to the side and balling her hands into fists.

“I do not fear your alchemy,” said Melenor. Ribbons of black and star came swirling down around her as she summoned her power.

“I am more than an alchemist,” said Allura, bringing to mind the healing light of Oriande. “I am a Life Giver!” Allura felt the light set fire deep within her and when Melenor’s blast of energy came at her, she didn’t get blown away by it, but absorbed it into her very being. She set that energy alight with her inner flame then blew it out of her straight back at her mother!

Melenor crossed her arms as a shield as the blast hit her, forcing her feet to slide back, but she kept her body tight and held her stance. “Good, Allura!” cried Melenor. “You’re finally worthy to battle me at my full strength.”

“Wha-?” Allura couldn’t finish being perplexed because her mother’s powers were already hitting her at ten times their previous power. Allura screamed! Her body taking too much and falling to her knees.

Allura tried to absorb it like she had before, but it felt… wrong. Inside her the energy felt like daggers. She heard screaming and suddenly realized it was her own voice. She tried to shoot the power back out, but it wouldn’t leave her, wouldn’t…obey her. Finally, when she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, when she was prepared to beg for death, the energy shot out of her, exiting through her mouth like a rage-filled screamed and evaporating into the air above. 

Allura slumped forward, her hands barely catching her. She looked to her mother and saw she’d grown bigger, a least one story tall with ribbons of night sky circling around her. Her mother had spent ten thousand years building herself into… what? A goddess? Allura didn’t stand a chance. “You’re… you’re an Ancient One,” sputtered Allura as it came to her. She hadn’t thought of it, she’d felt it. There was no need for Melenor to confirm this, but she offered a tip of her chin as an answer.

Allura’s eyes turned away, her mother was too much to look at. If the sheer greatness of her didn’t fuel a deep feeling of shame inside Allura’s stomach then the knowing that someone who loved her was prepared to destroy her very soul did. Her heart was breaking. There could be no greater feeling of loss and sorrow than this. Her face came to turn towards the After. The thousands of Alteans looked back at her, stoic, betraying no signs of allegiance to her or her mother. 

“I’m glad,” said Melenor, her voice rich with power. “You got a chance to look upon the After as your soul will never reach there.”

That light… something about it felt so familiar. It echoed in her memory. The light inside her when she brought Lance back from the dead…. The light inside her when she moved Shiro’s quintessence from the Black Lion to his clone body… The light that burned bright inside her on the escalator to the astral plane… When all hope was lost that exact same light burned bright with her…

The light from the After was inside of Allura… She was connected to it somehow…

“You have no idea the power of a Realm Guardian,” said Melenor, her voice seeming to boom from everywhere at once. “We are the Ancient Ones, the very gods of Altea.” The ribbons of night sky were circling around Melenor now, gaining speed. “We are one with the universe!” Melenor drew back a swirling ball of her power.

Allura knew now what to do. She raised herself back to her knees and opened her arms wide. She squeezed her eyes shut, her encounter with the white lion so clear in her mind, how she’d offered her life to her… 

“This is not Oriande!” warned Melenor. “You do not win by submission! Submission will only bring you death!” Melenor’s battle cry rang out as the energy blasted out of her towards Allura. “I am one with the lion goddess! She is within me!”

“And within me,” said Allura. She opened her eyes and they were pure white, staring down the magically energy coming at her. It was about to hit Allura full blast with no guard up when suddenly, the White Lion leapt out Allura’s chest, roaring and cutting through the black energy to pounce on Melenor!

Melenor screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	31. Going Up Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bored reveals what the big prize is. Team Punk and Klance make it to the escalator to the astral plane.

Chapter 31 - Going Up Again

“So I have a question about this sole-merging thing,” said Lance as they walked along the path to the astral plane.

“Or we can pretend it’s not a thing like I’m doing,” said Keith, wishing it could never be brought up again.

Bored looked back at them… or rather she looked at the space between them again. “You sound like you’re arguing with yourself. Do you actually have a question?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“I just want to know how it was possible!” Lance blurted out before Keith could protest again.

“Well, when two paladins love each other very much…” began Hunk.

“I just meant,” continued Lance, “How do the they like…fit together…?”

Hunk and Pidge started giggling. Keith didn’t get what was funny.

“Like can any two ol’ souls merge together or are their different shapes and sizes and you have to fit the right ones together? Like metaphysical Tetris? Like if one’s too big will it not fit in the other and who goes inside of whose and…?”

Hunk and Pidge were snorting with laughter now.

“What’s so funny?” asked Keith. 

“Aw Keefy, if you don’t know…,” said Pidge.

“What?” said Lance, defensively. “I just wanted to know if Keith and I were special… Like have-our-own-stars special?”

Keith was blushing. Lance really was romantic and now he was being romantic in front of other people. It was too much!”

“You’re the first soul-merge I’ve ever seen,” said Bored. “I guess that makes you special.”

“Yes,” said Lance giving a fist pump.

“First off,” continued Bored, “the circumstance of someone about to experience soul-death is pretty rare, but then the quintessence occupying the souls needs to be very similar.”

“So our quintessence is similar?” questioned Keith. 

“Well, that kinda makes sense since our quintessence is mirrored in our Lions,” said Hunk, “And you’ve both piloted Red.”

“Yeah, and Allura can fly Blue,” said Keith.

“And Shiro can fly Black,” Lance shot back. Wait… were they fighting? “But,” said Lance, his voice softening, “you were the one who sensed Blue’s energy. And that’s kinda like…” Lance got that flirty look on his face. “You were feelin’ me.”

Keith was bright red.

“Ugh,” said Bored, “I hate not being able to see your soul’s physical expressions. I miss faces. Anyway, sorry you got tortured in the Memory realm to the point of soul-death.”

“Weren’t you also trying to kill our souls?” asked Hunk.

“Yeah, but in a fun way. Not a ‘torture you with your painful past’ way. One of the Guardians down there is a real twisted old bastard… Don’t tell him I said that.”

“Never actually met him,” said Lance.

“I like this new soul though,” said Bored, looking between Keith and Lance again. “Frankly your old souls were kinda garbage, but this one has a nice energy. It’s a candidate for sure. Now I don’t know who I’m going to nominate,” Bored lamented.

“For what?” asked Pidge. “Is this the prize you keep mentioning?”

“I can’t say,” said Bored and Pidge at the exact same time.

“One, two, three jinx!” cried Pidge.

So that shouldn’t have worked, but then suddenly Bored’s mouth sealed shut. She stomped her foot in frustration.

“I will say your name and release you only if you promise to tell us what the prize is. Do you agree?” asked Pidge.

Bored nodded her agreement.

“Bored,” said Pidge.

Bored’s mouth reappeared. With a gasp Bored said, “Impressive, Knowledge Seeker. You understand how this works now.”

“Yeah, all childish games are real,” said Pidge with an eyeroll. “I get it. Now talk. Nominate our souls for what?”

“We’re choosing a new Ancient One from the Paladins,” said Bored.

“Oh…,” said Hunk. “That’s not a prize I want.”

“Why not?” whined Bored. “It’s so cool! You get powers like me.”

“Wait, you’re an Ancient One?” asked Hunk. “I thought you were a Realm Guardian.”

“Yeah, that’s what that means,” said Bored. “We like our titles in the non-physical planes. I have like five.”

“But you kept saying stuff like, ‘thank the ancient ones.’ Were you referring to yourself?”

“Self-love is important. You’d know that if you were all knowing and you would be if I nominated you and you passed the vote and became an Ancient One.”

“Wouldn’t we have to die?” asked Hunk.

“No! Your quintessence goes back to your body and your soul stays here and becomes powerful. Scary powerful.”

“Literally none of us want that,” said Keith.

“Hmmm,” said Pidge.

“Really?” gasped Keith.

“What? I wanna be all-knowing…”

“Alright, Knowledge Seeker,” said Bored. “I think I’ve got my nominee.”

“What’s all this?” asked Lance, they had reached a triangle shaped doorway with rainbow light shining out of it.

“This is the gateway to the astral plane,” said Bored. 

“Finally!” exclaimed Lance. The five of them passed through the doorway.

“Oh, good!” cheered Bored when she saw what was waiting on the other side. “You’re manifesting it as an escalator. A couple generations before yours, all humans would manifest it as a literal ‘stairway to heaven’ and it was exhausting.”

“How?” asked Pidge. “You can both float and teleport. It’s not like you’d have to walk up the steps.”

“No, but I’d have to wait for the souls to walk up and it would be boring for me.”

“Please step forward in an orderly fashion,” said a calm, disembodied voice.

Keith stepped onto the escalator. 

“Arms and legs do not need to be kept inside as you are not really here.”

Lance took the step behind Keith and wrapped his arms around him from behind. He leaned himself against Keith’s back. Keith blushed for the millionth time today.

“Aw,” said Hunk as Pidge made a gagging sound. 

“This is a reminder that what you are experiencing is a manifestation of your mortal expectations of physical distance needing to be passed in order to travel.”

“I hate this station,” said Bored. Keith turned to look to where she was standing on the elevator behind Hunk and Pidge. Bored mimed taking out a remote from an invisible pocket, pointed it at the sky, and mimed pushing a button and you know what? The voice actually stopped…

“Manifestations may vary and your –”

… and changed to what sounded like monks chanting in an alien language.

“Ugh,” sighed Bored. “This one always gets stuck in my head.” Then she continued pressing the imaginary remote button as the audio flipped through a country song, an operatic ballad, the sounds of human screaming (which she paused on to consider,) an NPR podcast, the sound of fingers scratching across a chalkboard (which grated Keith’s nerves worse than the human screaming,) and finally landed on yodeling.

“Someone else pick the music,” said Bored, “It all sounds the same to me.” She then mimed tossing the remote in the air and Hunk mimed catching it except first he mimed fumbling it before catching it and Keith really felt like he was missing something.

Hunk quickly flipped through all sorts of strange sound effects until he landed on your typical elevator music. “Fitting,” he said, then mimed handing the remote back to Bored. Keith made a mental note to get his eyes checked when he got back to his… body… Never mind.

“What’s that?” asked Pidge, pointing upwards. Keith looked and saw what looked like a lightning storm that they were heading straight into because of course they were!

“Oh, right that,” said Bored. “That’s a worthiness test.”

“Another test?” snapped Pidge. “I thought we were already tested.”

“I forgot about this one,” said Bored. “Let’s see, to survive it there’s a trick to it.”

“To survive?!”

“Let me think,” said Bored then she popped out of existence.

“And we’ve been abandoned,” said Pidge.

“Let’s make a break for it!” said Hunk. 

The all turned around and started running down the escalator steps, which made it so they were staying in one spot rather than traveling upwards.

“This isn’t working!” yelled Pidge, turning frontwards again.

“We’re gonna die,” cried Hunk, grabbing Pidge and pulling her into a hug. “This was all just a trick to finish us off once and for all.”

Lance pulled Keith into a proper frontwards hug and Keith wrapped his arms around his boyfriend (soulmate? Whatever…)

“If I die and one of you make it, tell Matt,” said Pidge, “not to touch any of my stuff. I leave everything to science.”

“Aw,” said Lance. “I like Matt. He can have my stuff.”

“Excuse me. You like Matt?” questioned Keith, leaning back so he could look Lance in the face. “You like him?”

“Are you jealous of Matt?” asked Lance.

“Yeah, because of I’m seen him recently. With my eyes.”

“Kinda sounds like you like Matt,” accused Lance.

“Guys!” said Hunk. “These might be our last moments of existence. Can we not argue about Pidge’s hot beefcake brother?”

“I hate all of you,” hissed Pidge.

“I remembered something!” cried Bored, popping back into existence and startling all of them. “The test, it uses reverse psychology.”

“How?” asked Pidge, annoyed because this offered no help with the lightning crackling mere feet above their heads.

“Do the opposite of the instructions.”

“What instructions?” growled Pidge.

“Oh right,” said Bored, miming taking out the remote and flipping from the elevator music back to the calm, disembodied voice.

“Existence is a lie. Life is meaningless. Abandon all hope.”

“So we’re supposed to hope?” asked Pidge, but Bored had already left. “I hope you choke on that invisible remote!” she yelled into the empty spot Bored had once occupied.

“I hope Matt falls face first into a woodchipper,” said Keith, bitterly. Had he said that out loud? He was dizzy, he wasn’t thinking straight. Not that he was every really ‘straight.’

“Wouldn’t affect his body,” countered Lance.

“Then I hope he dives in!” snapped Keith. He felt weak all of sudden and found himself slumping down onto Lance’s shoulder. “I thought I was the grizzled one.”

“You are, baby,” said Lance, now resting his head against Keith’s shoulder. “The grizzledest.”

“Can I just say,” said Hunk, his arms finding themselves around Keith and Lance. “It has been an honour watching your love blossom.” Keith was about to thank him then Hunk added, “then shrivel, but then blossom again then shrivel… then blossom...”

“Yeah, that was annoying,” mumbled Pidge, she’d maneuvered herself so she was nestled in Keith’s armpit.

Keith closed his eyes as the pink and purple bolts of lightning were too bright to look at. The crackling was loud. The air smelled like electricity. Keith could feel it in his brain. “I love you guys,” said Keith, the sentiment bursting out of him. “I’m sorry I’m an awkward mess.”

“Aw Keef.” Surprisingly it was Pidge that responded with a choked up voice.

“I love you all!” boomed Hunk’s voice.

“It’s been an honour,” sniffed Lance. Naturally he was crying the most. Keith hugged his love close and in turn felt three other sets of arms tighten around him. He braced himself for death.

“I know what to do!” yelled Bored, suddenly beside Keith. He was shocked into opening his eyes and watched her lift her invisible remote and point it out at the lightning head straight for them. She mimed a button click and, no joke, the lightning paused! It paused just inches from Keith’s face!

“Why didn’t you do that before?” snapped Pidge. The escalator continued to carry them up between frozen bolts of lightning.

“Because I forgot I could!” yelled Bored, matching her tone. “Aw, look at your souls as nuzzled together. You got so scared.”

Pidge gave Bored her famous ‘imma murder you’ stare. Arms started to loosen out of the group hug. Keith caught Lance’s hand and muttered, “Sorry” to him.

“No need,” said Lance with a smile. Ugh that smile! That smile was Keith’s now. Everything felt okay again as they stepped safely off the escalator and into (onto?) the astral plane. That is until Lance looked up ahead and gasped, “Allura!”

“Mel!” cried Bored.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm going to take a couple days off from updating as I have some personal stuff to attend to, but I'll be back to daily updates on Friday! Please remember to subscribe so that you get notified when a new chapter comes. Thanks so much for reading along!!
> 
> Much love,  
> Chilly xoxoxox


	32. You should see me in a crown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The finale of Allura's coronation.

Chapter 31– You should see me in a crown

Her mouth tasted like blood. Allura hadn’t been expecting to be alive, but if she could taste blood…

Gustare ergo sum.

I taste therefore I am.

Allura concentrated on opening her eyes. Her eyelids were heavy, possibly swollen, but slowly she willed them open. She saw spots. No wait… those were the stars above and there were blue and red.

Allura remembered thinking they were for her and Lance, the Blue and Red Lions… No… Hold on… Lance and Keith… She’d been foolish, but none of that mattered anymore. She wasn’t finished what needed to be done.

Allura rolled to her side. There was blood underneath her. She wondered what from, but not for too long. The blood loss hadn’t killed her so finding the major source could wait. She pushed up on her hands, feeling the tiny cuts from the star shards when she’d exploded her mother’s trident. 

‘How did that work?’ she wondered. If she was just her soul then why did physical injuries feel real? Why was there blood? It must all be a metaphor for something. Allura let out a laugh as she rocked back to sit on her heals. Questioning it now felt ridiculous. Why question a spark in the aftermath of a forest fire?

It took Allura three attempts before she managed to stand. Even then she regretted it. She wanted to fall back to the ground, let herself rest, let her soul drift away… How nice oblivion would feel…

But no. Allura walked. Every step shot pain through her body. Every movement felt designed to make her regret continuing to exist. Eventually her boot came in contact with something solid. She looked down to see she’d kicked her mother in the side.

Melenor was not moving, eyes closed. Allura wondered for a moment if she’d killed her, but didn’t have the energy to panic about it in the moment. Luckily she remembered quickly that if her mother was dead, she’d be nothing. If there was a body, there was life.

Allura kneelt done beside her mother. She touched her mother’s face with her hand, stroking her cheek. Melenor’s eyes fluttered, but failed to open. “Allura…,” she muttered. Allura felt her mother’s arms creeping up her arms.

Allura slide her hand up over her mother’s cheek and up to the crown on her head. Melenor’s arms suddenly gripped tightly, working to stop her.

Allura sighed. She knew it was never going to be easy. And that’s why lifted a leg and kneelt on her mother’s windpipe. That’s why she pushed hard until those gripping hands lost their strength and slipped away. When her mother was still, Allura pulled the crown from her mother’s head.

Allura stood up, ignoring the little voice inside her that wanted to cry over what she’d just done. Allura turned towards the light of the After. It was so bright it made her eyes water. She could barely make out the outlines of the thousands of dead Alteans watching her at a distance. She raised the crown up and with two hands she gently lowered it onto her head.

For a moment nothing was different and the victory felt hollow as Allura focused on her breath rather than feeling the pain of her injuries, but then, one by one the dead Alteans dropped to their knees and bowed before their new Queen.

Allura felt drips of something on her forehead originating from the crown. They moved like water, but felt like cold silk against her skin. It covered her eyes, rendering her blind and flowed into her open mouth. The flavour was creamy, but light like the taste of alchemy in the moonlight…

Gustare ergo sum.

She felt it pouring down from the crown now, covering her body with chilled silk. It flowed down her throat, choking off her breath, making her insides deathly cold. It had the bite of ocean water, refreshing, but terrifying like when you get pulled under by the current and forget which direction is up. When breathing feels like a distant memory. When sounds feels like something you dreamt up.

Allura swallowed hard, drinking it back, sucking it down. Feeling the cool riches pooling inside her belly just as it pooled at her feet. And then it stopped and her lungs sucked in air once more. She went to wipe her eyes clean, but there was nothing on her face. Allura opened her eyes and found her cut hands healed…

She looked forward to the light of After and could see clearly all the faces of the kneeling Alteans. She knew each of them, knew their story though she couldn’t explain how. They were just… hers.

“Allura!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for being patient and waiting! Love you guys!!
> 
> Chilly xoxoxox


	33. Le-Ikea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Punk, Klance, and Bored meet Queen Allura and what remains of her mother.

Chapter 33 - Le-Ikea

Lance hadn’t been expecting to see Allura like this, not emitting a golden light while draped in royal blue robes and wearing a crown a top her head. And certainly not with what appeared to be her dead older sister lying at her feet.

“Allura!” gasped Lance.

“Mel!” cried Bored which was a name that Lance didn’t know, but he had to assume the dead sister was Mel, however that didn’t explain why Bored said it with the an angry stomp like she was pissed at her for being dead. “You picked an Ancient One without me? I thought we were all going to present nominations then vote!”

“She picked herself,” said the corpse, who sat up in a very non-corpse like manner. Mel certainly looked dead and the fact that her arm was sticking out at a crazy weird angle didn’t help. “Her connection with the After is extraordinary.”

“This is pure nepotism,” argued Bored. “You didn’t even look at the candidates I brought!” Bored gestured to the other Paladins who were all opened mouth staring at Allura and Zombie Mel. “You just went ahead and Guardian-upped your own daughter!”

“That’s your mom!” yelled Lance, pointing at zombie Mel who was popping her arm back into its socket. “What ran her over? And why are you dressed like that? And why are you wearing a crown? And who are they?” Lance pointed behind the mother and daughter to a blindingly bright light with the silhouettes of a whole bunch ol’ people on their knees.

“I am so glad you are all safe,” said Allura in an eerily calm voice, completely failing to answer any of Lance’s questions. “Keith, Lance, you look different.”

“WE look different?” shouted Lance.

“Ah!” cried Mel. They all looked towards her and saw her flicker in and out of existence.

“Mother!” cried Allura, breaking out of her weirdly calm demeanor. She kneelt down beside her.

“No,” said Mel, trying to push her daughter off. “I gladly give my soul for you. You’ve realized your true power. I go happy and proud.”

“Or I could heal you and you could continue to exist happy,” said Allura, laying her hands on her mother. Glowing energy moved from Allura’s hands and into her mother.

“Are they soul merging?” Hunk whispered to Bored.

“Ew no,” said Bored. “She’s just transferring quintessence. They’re related. That’s gross.”

“Sorry,” muttered Hunk.

“That’s enough,” said Mel when her body had stopped flickering. Her cuts were healing too. “I can do the rest on my own.”

“At least I now I know you weren’t going easy on me,” said Allura, offering her hand to help her mother stand. Huh? What? Huh? What?

“Never,” said Mel. 

With Allura’s help she came to stand. Suddenly the zombie impression was gone and in its place was a regal air. She was dressed in all pink robes and Lance couldn’t help, but mutter, “What a goth…”

“Huh?” questioned Keith. Pidge and Hunk were looking at him, confused.

“Alteans wear pink to funerals,” explained Lance.

“Oh,” they all said together as not only did Mel’s robes suddenly have new meaning, but Allura’s Paladin suit as well.

“Pink is the new black,” whispered Pidge.

“I’m not switching,” whispered Keith.

“I believe introductions are in order,” said Melenor, directing this at Bored like she was an insubordinate.

“This is Queen Melenor,” began Bored.

“Queen Mother,” corrected Melenor. “And may I present Queen Allura, Guardian of the After.”

There was a collective “whoa” from the Paladins.

“Sorry, your majesties,” mumbled Bored, clearly in a rotten mood now. “And here are the souls you rejected without bothering to meet.” Bored gestured to the Paladins.

“Hello boys,” said Melenor, approaching them.

“Uh, I’m a girl,” said Pidge, annoyed.

“This time,” said Melenor, gazing at her. “So nice to meet you Pidge, Hunk…” Melenor looked at Hunk in turn then moved on to Keith and Lance, her ancient gaze moving between them as if she, at least, saw them both. “Leakira,” she said with a nod.

“What?” asked Lance and Keith at the same time.

“It is the name the universe has gifted your new soul with.”

Ohhh there was a lot of weird in that statement. “Why Leakira?” asked Lance, brushing past the metaphysical implications and focusing on an arbitrary detail. “Why not give us a proper celebrity couple name like… Klance?” Lance waved his spirit hands across his face like he was a magician presenting an illusion.

“So like my one letter and then your entire name?” asked Keith, bitterly.

“Okay, that was just my first idea. We’re brainstorming here. How about Laith?”

“So your name first?”

Lance stared at the love of his life and realized he had no way of winning this one. “You know what? I like Leakira. It’s got a bit of razzle dazzle to it.”

“Well, there is no changing it,” muttered Melenor.

“Um, I think everything’s negotiable,” countered Lance.

“Oh, you combined your souls!” gasped Allura, staring at the spot between Keith and Lance. “That’s what’s different about you. Well, that and I can see souls, but that’s a difference with me… How did this happen?”

“Apparently soul-merging was an item on the spa menu here,” said Lance. “Along with coronating I guess,” he pointed to Allura, “and whatever those two got up to.” He nodded towards Hunk and Pidge.

“We were nearly turned to stone by a Medusotaur,” said Hunk.

“Yeah that… Wait, WHAT?!” gasped Lance.

“It’s cool,” said Pidge. “We killed it.”

“Aw no fair,” whined Keith.

“Aw no fair?” repeated Lance.

“Sounds like their thing was more fun.”

“We pledged our eternal love to each other!” yelled Lance. “I cradled you in my arms!”

“And that,” said Keith, “is how that feels.”

“Truly,” said Melenor, turning to Keith. “It is an honour to meet the one and only Black Paladin that hasn’t died on the job.”

“He almost did though,” mumbled Lance. “I saved him, but whatever…”

“Speaking of which,” said Pidge. “Should we be concerned that Shiro isn’t here?”

“Oh man,” said Hunk. “We really should’ve gotten him that Life Alert before leaving the physical realm. Do you think he’s dead again?”

“Shiro is well,” said Melenor. “He is completing his journey.” Then she turned to look at Keith. “Are you ready to complete yours, Black Paladin?”

“Uh-uh…” stuttered Keith.

Lance didn’t know what Melenor meant, but then she reached out and pulled at the very fabric of reality…or not reality…like non-physical realmnesss… and pulled back a piece of it like opening a curtained doorway. She gestured towards it as if Keith was supposed to step through.

Lance gave Keith’s hand a reassuring squeeze (though to be fair, he didn’t know Mel wasn’t leading Keith to his death so the comfort may have been misplaced.) Keith stepped forward, releasing Lance’s hand. Lance immediately missed him like crazy and he was only a step away from him. Keith rolled his shoulders back and walked confidently through the opening in false-reality.

It took Lance half a heartbeat to decide to just go on and follow him. I mean, Melenor had specifically invited Keith. She said Black Paladin instead of that celebrity couple name, Le-Ikea or whatever, but Lance had just sworn to always stay with Keith and gosh darn-nit he meant it!

Lance scurried after Keith and managed to slip behind the veil before Melenor released the it and it closed off leaving them seemingly alone in the astral plane (or this version of the astral plane) except for the handsome man in front of Keith who Lance recognized from Keith’s memories.

“Dad?” gasped Keith.

“Hello son,” answered the aged-like-fine-wine Kogane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	34. Earth Dad and Tex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith gets the reunion he's been hoping for, Lance meets his boyfriend's dad, and the Paladins officially meet their Earth Dad/Mama!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Bi Visibility Day!!!

Chapter 34 – Earth Dad and Tex

“Dad?” Keith couldn’t believe his eyes, literally as several times already what he’d thought was his dad turned out to be a projection of his own memory.

“Hello son,” answered his dad.

Keith stood back, waiting. Waiting for some ghost version of his younger self to step in and talk to what had to be another memory.

“I can understand if you’re upset with me,” said his dad, sadly.

That’s when Keith lunged, nearly tackling his dad with a hug. “You’re real. I can touch you,” sobbed Keith.

“You didn’t get fooled by those memory ghost things downstairs, did you?”

“No,” Keith lied.

“I’m so glad I got to see you,” said his dad, leaning back to look at his son. “And you didn’t even have to die first.”

“Only came close a few times,” admitted Keith.

Keith’s dad got a serious look on his face. “Keith, I’ve been wanting for so long to apologize to you.”

“What for?”

“Well, for not being honest about your mom for one thing. I wanted to wait until you were mature enough to handle the full explanation, but waiting turned out to be the wrong call.”

“Or even if you’d just written it down somewhere for me to find after you were gone,” said Keith. “Would’ve saved me a lot of time and wondering.”

“I’m sorry and I want to say I’m sorry for leaving you so soon.”

“You couldn’t control that,” said Keith, feeling uncomfortable.

“I went back into that fire, Keith. I never stopped to think about the person I had waiting at home for me. I’m sorry. Can you forgive me?”

Keith was definitely crying now. “I forgive you.”

His dad pulled him into another hug. “I’m so proud of you, son. Saving your friend Shiro, going to space, finding your mother, fighting the good fight. You’ve grown into an incredible person.”

“How do you know all this?”

“I’ve been watching over you.”

“All the time?” Lance’s voice cut into the moment. Keith hadn’t even realized Lance was standing behind him. “Like even when Keith’s… sittin’ in a tree… by himself. Having Keith’s special private time because that would be weird.”

“I didn’t notice you there,” said Keith’s dad, looking over his son’s shoulder.

“Yeah, there’s a lot of that going around,” said Lance with a pout.

“So um,” said Keith, taking a step back so he could put his arm around Lance and guide him forward. “Dad, this is my boyfriend, Lance.”

“Yes, I am your son’s lover,” said Lance, completely awkwardly. “Well… no… we haven’t gotten to that part yet. We’ve been together like twenty minutes. Not to say if we’d been together thirty minutes we would be lovers, but eventually, over time, I’m hoping…”

Keith was beet red.

“It’s great to meet ya,” said Keith’s dad, reaching out and shaking Lance’s hand.

“You too, Mr. Kogane, sir,” said Lance, clearing his throat and sounding all formal.

“Well, you don’t need to call me sir.”

“I don’t know your name,” admitted Lance. “In my head I’ve nicknamed you Tex ‘cause of the accent. Oh, or should I skip to calling you dad?”

“I like Tex,” said Keith’s dad.

“Great. Okay. I’ve never met someone’s dad before. I’m nervous,” said Lance. “Is it obvious?”

“Not at all,” Keith’s dad lied. “Oh…” He was looking past them. “I think you’re being summoned.”

Keith turned and saw Melenor had pulled back the veil again and was signaling for them to return. “Can you meet more people?” asked Keith, grabbing his dad’s arm.

“If the Guardian says it’s okay.”

Melenor nodded and they all walked back through together.

Things weren’t exactly as they’d left it. Hunk and Pidge were over talking to Shiro and…

Keith froze when he saw Adam. The last time he’d seen Adam he’d called him a f*gg*t. Keith felt drenched in shame. How could he even look Adam in the eye again? But then their eyes did meet and Keith looked at the floor, but he needn’t have because Adam pushed the others aside and came running up to Keith and pulled him into a hug.

“Oh Keith, I’m so sorry,” said Adam.

“You’re sorry?” gasped Keith. “I’m the one that said –”

“You were hurting Keith. I never took it to heart. No, I’m sorry for not believing in you and in Takashi. You were right the whole time. He was alive and you found him and brought him home!”

“Well, I… brought back his clone,” said Keith.

Adam laughed and the sound finally relaxed Keith. “It counts, okay?” said Adam. “And you’re his dad.” Adam let go of Keith to shake his dad’s hand.

“You’re one of the adoptive dads.”

“Well, I made a very sad attempt at adopting him,” said Adam, looking embarrassed.

“Still counts,” said Keith’s dad.

Shiro came over to shake Keith’s dad’s hand while Adam turned his gaze to Lance. You were one of my students, right? I wanna say… Taylor?” For whatever reason, this pleased Lance. Adam looked at Keith and said, “Didn’t you have a crush on a Taylor back in school?” 

“What?” gasped Lance, looking way too happy.

“No!” cried Keith because it was not true and Keith had never so much met a Taylor!

“I’m joking,” said Adam. “I know you, Lance. Pidge just paid me twenty dollars to call you Taylor and claim Keith had a crush on you. Not that money has any meaning in the After…”

“I’m gonna kill Pidge,” said Keith.

“Get in line,” said Lance, looking disappointed. “So like, you’re our Earth Dad.”

“I’m your what?” asked Adam.

“Yeah, ‘cause Shiro is our Space Dad,” said Pidge, joining them with Hunk and the rest. “Which makes you Earth Dad. Basically you would’ve been our step dad had uh… quiznak never mind.”

“Yeah, bummer I died,” said Adam, demonstrating a lot of comfort with the topic. “Though I’d prefer Earth Mama. I was actually kinda Earth moming a bunch of cadets after you all left the planet. Ina, Nadia, Ryan and… uh, well, James, Keith’s bully. I only adopted him to teach him better manners,” Adam added quickly.

“It didn’t work,” said Lance, getting defensive. “I guess if you’d still been alive when we got back and you two got married, we coulda Brady Bunched it and become one big blended family.”

“Hey well,” said Shiro. “We probably wouldn’t have…”

“Shiro, if I had been there when your feet touched soil,” said Adam, “I would’ve married you on the spot.”

“No but…,” Shiro began, seeming confused. “I let you down.”

“I know, but I’m also a really big person,” said Adam with a grin. “Maybe the best person.”

Shiro sighed. “That just makes me sadder. Thinking I still had a chance to be your husband.”

“Why don’t you get married now?” suggested Lance. Everyone turned to stare at him like he was the dumbest person ever. “What?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	35. A Ceremony and a Summoning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance's expertise in rom com endings inspires an impromptu wedding in the astral plane.

Chapter 35 - A Ceremony and a Summoning

“Why don’t you get married now?” suggested Lance. Everyone turned to stare at him like he was the dumbest person. “What?”

“Part of the reason for getting married is so you can commit to spending your lives together,” said Shiro.

“Yeah, sure,” said Lance, “tell that to Mandy Moore in a little movie called A Walk to Remember. Spoiler alert by the way. Just because your story ends doesn’t mean you can’t have a happy ending. Or hey, you could soul-merge because apparently that’s something you can do here.”

“I wouldn’t recommend it,” said Keith.

Shiro looked at Adam. Adam rolled his eyes. “Takashi, do not make me propose again. How many times do I have to say I want to be your husband before you get a freakin’ clue?”

“I don’t know how this would work,” admitted Shiro with a laugh. “Someone needs to marry us. Princess?” he looked to Allura.

“It’s Queen now or rather your majesty, but um a royal performing a marriage ceremony? That sounds absurd.”

Shiro felt stupid. Of course this wasn’t going to work.

“Although,” said Allura. “This may seem like a strange custom to you humans, but on Altea the Captains of vessels were able to perform marriage ceremonies. Altea was often at war and developed this tradition so that couples or groups could marry quickly when there was a risk that one or more would be killed in battle.”

“Shiro’s Captain of the Atlas,” said Lance.

“I can’t perform my own marriage,” said Shiro, still feeling like this was all hypothetical and not a real problem they were working through. “Although… Voltron has a Captain.”

Everyone looked at Keith except Keith who looked at Allura.

“Once again,” said Allura, reacting to Keith’s expectant look. “I cannot perform the marriage, but you, Keith…”

“No,” said Keith, looking around at the expectant faces. “I’m not Voltron’s Captain…”

“It’s a vessel,” said Shiro, “You lead it. In that context, yes, you are the Captain of Voltron.”

“Please Keith,” said Adam, making puppy dog eyes.

“I guess…” said Keith, shrinking a bit under everyone’s expectant stares.

“Yay!” said Adam, clapping his hands and jumping up and down. “Mel B, will you be my bridesmaid?”

“Once again,” said Melenor. “Remind me where you’re getting the B from…”

“As in B*tch because you’re my Ride of Die B*tch.”

“I may be all-knowing, but clearly I don’t know everything. Is the word b*tch not an insult on Earth?”

“Yeah, when most people say it, but when a gay man says it, it’s the highest compliment.”

“Well thank you,” said Melenor, acting flattered which was a surprise to most. “I do enjoy a good title. Ride or Die B*tch could really strike the fear into people.”

“The context though…,” began Adam than he shook his never mind. “Never mind. You do you girl, but also help me by coming to stand beside me.” Melenor hoped to it and came to stand beside Adam as his bridesmaid. 

“Oh, so you two are actually friends?” asked Shiro.

“We bonded,” said Melenor.

“Fellow queens,” said Adam.

“Neither of us are queens,” corrected Melenor.

“Queen is an attitude, honey,” said Adam with a snap of his fingers. Melenor echoed the snap.

“This is getting weird,” said Lance with a grin. “I love it.”

“Getting weird?” gasped Keith.

“For sharing the same soul, we are rarely on the same page,” sighed Lance.

“You gonna get yourself a best man there?” Adam asked Shiro.

“Well, I would’ve asked Keith,” said Shiro, “But he’s performing the ceremony so I guess I’ll ask…”

Lance went to take a step forward.

“…Allura.”

Lance took a step back, looking sad. Shiro watched as Keith leaned in and whispered something in Lance’s ear that made them both blush. They were adorable.

“Do they ever remind you of…?” asked Adam, trailing off.

“Oh yeah,” agreed Shiro with a nod then he whispered, “And I’ve known they liked each other the whole time and it was really hard not to just say something.”

“Oh, I would’ve said something,” whispered Adam. “I do not have your restraint. When I found out Ina liked Nadia, I was like blah blah blah blah blah. Then when I found out Veronica liked them both…”

“Okay,” said Keith, stepping up to the couple and interrupting their tete-a-tete. Allura came up to stand with Shiro. “I… don’t know how to do this.”

“I wish we had rings,” sighed Adam.

“Oh here,” said Melenor, pulling a ring off her finger. “Its gem is a piece of a trans-reality comet so it’s not a projection. It’s real and exists in every realm.”

“Dibs!” said Adam, snatching the ring. “What? We know I like the pretty stuff.”

“Isn’t that your wedding ring?” Shiro asked Melenor.

“No, we don’t exchange rings in Altean culture,” said Melenor. “We cut matching scars with a ceremonial blade.”

“Cool,” said Keith, because of course he liked that idea.

“I would cut the deepest scar for you, babe,” said Lance and this made Keith blush.

“Aw,” said Pidge. Hunk looked at her in surprise. “What? Mutual mutilation! It’s romance I can get behind.”

“The ring is just a royal heirloom,” explained Melenor, “suitable for a queen.”

“And I’m not getting it?” asked Allura.

“Check your head, dear. I already gave you jewelry today.”

“More like I won it fairly in battle.”

“Do you really want the ring?”

“It’s sparkly,” said Allura in a baby voice. “No, never mind. Of course Adam may have it.”

“You would’ve had to fight me for it anyway,” said Adam, wiggling the finger the ring was sitting on.

“You’re supposed to wait to put it on,” scolded Shiro.

“Fine. Someone hold it for me,” said Adam, slipping it off.

“Oh!” said Lance, his hand shooting into the sky. “I’ll be the ring bear!”

“You mean ring barer?”

“Yeah, ring bear. That’s what I said.” Lance took the ring.

“Shame we don’t have two,” said Adam.

“I’m okay,” said Shiro. “I don’t need one.”

“Yeah, but we already had one for you and everything,” sighed Adam. “I picked it out special.”

Shiro thought back to the last time he’d seen the ring…

“I’ll see you when I get back,” Shiro said to Keith. “Stay out of trouble.”

“I promise,” lied Keith.

Shiro turned to space shuttle that would take him to Kerberos.

“Shiro, wait,” said Keith. Shiro thought he had something important to say, but when he looked back he saw Keith pointing at his hand. “No metal jewelry, right?”

Shiro looked down at his engagement ring from Adam. He hadn’t worn it for months, not since he’d tried to give it back to Adam (and failed.) He didn’t remember putting it on this morning. He must’ve done it subconsciously. “Right…,” said Shiro, feeling embarrassed. “Would you… hold on to it for me?”

“Sure,” said Keith. “I’ll give it to you when you get back.”

Shiro handed him the ring and watched Keith open up his bag and pull out his lucky red jacket and slip it into the tiny breast pocket. “Safest spot” he said. 

Keith must’ve been remembering the same moment, because he blinked then reached into the tiny breast pocket of the very same red jacket he was wearing. Keith pulled out the ring. “I definitely forgot that was in there,” muttered Keith.

“What was in there?” asked Lance. “Lint?” He was squinting at Keith’s hand. In fact… Most of the people there were looking at Keith’s hand, confused.

“If you’re manifesting a physical object,” said Melenor, “It’ll only be visible to those expecting to see it.”

“All I see are souls,” whined Bored. “Can I go?”

“No,” said Melenor firmly.

“It’s a ring,” said Keith, holding it higher.

“Ohhhh,” said everyone, who must’ve been seeing the projection now.

“Look at that diamond!” gasped Lance. “It’s the size of a Monsters and Mana di!”

“There’s no diamond,” said Keith, confused.

“The way I’m projecting it, there is,” said Lance. “That’s the one I want you to buy me by the way.”

“How are we talking engagement rings already?” grumbled Keith.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” sassed Lance, “I thought we’d committed ourselves to sharing a soul for eternity, but I guess talking about hypothetical marriage is too serious for you!”

“I like him,” said Adam while pointing at Lance.

“I just want to bask in the feeling of knowing we feel the same about each other!” yelled Keith. “Is it too much to ask that we just live in the moment?”

“Awww,” said Shiro and Hunk. Pidge was back to making gagging noises.

“Let’s just do this stupid thing already!” grumbled Keith then seeming to realize how dismissive he was being. “I mean, not stupid. It’s meaningful… Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” said Shiro. “I appreciate you doing this.”

“And it is a little stupid,” agreed Adam. Shiro gave him a weird look. “What? That’s what I love about it. Who else would do this but us?”

“Lance just introduced himself to my dead dad as my ‘lover,’” said Keith, “so I’m not anticipating this being any more embarrassing than that.”

“And I missed it…,” muttered Bored. 

Keith cleared his throat. “We are gathered here for a wedding… Well, not originally, but that’s what we’re doing… I’m bad at this.”

“Doing great, babe!” yelled Lance even though he was standing close enough to just say it.

“Oh, are we allowed to heckle?” asked Pidge.

“I wasn’t heckling,” said Lance.

“How was that not sarcasm?”

“Because he’s…great…”

“Oh, you’re pageant moming. Gotcha.”

“So um,” continued Keith, “Shiro, do you take Adam to be your uh, I guess I can’t say lawfully.”

“Laws,” said Melenor with a dismissive shrug.

“So spiritually wedded husband?”

“I do,” said Shiro with all the sincerity contained within his heart.

“Oh, no I’m already crying,” said Hunk.

“Me as well,” said Allura, sniffling beside Shiro. “Is that allowed for a best man? I am not certain what my role is.”

“You’re good, sweetie,” said Adam, reassuringly.

“Adam, do you take Shiro -”

“Takashi,” corrected Adam.

“I’m not… I don’t think I can call him that.”

“Hey, I’m the bride here,” said Adam.

“Am I wrong,” Allura whispered to Shiro, “But I thought Adam identified as male thereby making the two of you Earth Gay together?”

“He’s making a joke,” Shiro whispered back.

Keith cleared this throat and opened his mouth to continue.

“Doing great, babe!”

“Shut up, Lance,” grumbled Keith. “Anyway, Adam do you take…Takashi to be your spiritually wedded husband. To have and to hold… and that part doesn’t make sense. Nor does the death do you part bit…”

“Allow me,” said Adam. “I, Adam, take you Taskashi, to be my spiritually wedded husband. To spend time with your soul that will remain in the After though your consciousness will be back on Earth and I will await for when your consciousness does return so that we can finally be together though I hope that’s a long while from now.”

“Also, I think gays are immortal,” said Bored. “Legend has it.”

“Clearly not true,” said Adam, gesturing to himself.

“Are you certain you’re gay?”

“How is that being questioned?”

“Whatever. Carry on.”

“I was pretty much done except I’ll say I love you enough to not accept death as an end for us and thank you for leaving your body to travel to the After to get back together with the ghost of you ex.”

“It worked for Swayze and Moore,” said Lance, looking around at everyone like he was prepared to fight anyone who disagreed. “No hate.”

“Lance,” warned Shiro. “Adam…” Shiro stopped, suddenly feeling sad.

“Oh no,” said Adam. “Did you get cold feet?”

“Well, warm them up!” yelled Lance.

“It’s stupid,” said Shiro. “I always assumed my parents wouldn’t come to our wedding because they hated that I was gay. I never thought they wouldn’t be coming because I was marrying you in the After.”

“Are they dead or alive?” asked Melenor as if this were the logical question to ask.

“I… I don’t know…,” admitted Shiro.

“They’re dead. They died during Sendak’s invasion,” said Allura. Shiro, turned to her, very much insulted by her casual tone, but then he saw her eyes had turned pure white. “And that works out. Hold on…” Allura lifted her arm and pointed it, palm up, towards the bright light in the distance with the figures.

“What’s she even pointing at?” whispered Lance.

“That is the After,” explained Melenor. “Allura ripped a hole in it while we were battling to the death.”

“But aren’t you already dead?” asked Lance.

“That’s what you find surprising about what she just said?” gasped Pidge.

“Sorry,” said Allura, still frozen in that pose. “It’s my first summoning. I may need another tick.”

“Take your time,” said Melenor. “You are doing well.”

Shiro didn’t understand what Allura could be doing. I mean, he could wager a guess… but she couldn’t… that’s not what she was… But then he saw a group of kneelers get up and make way for a middle-aged Japanese couple that came forward through the light.

“Oh my god,” muttered Shiro before striding forward towards them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	36. The Roots of Hatred

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro comes face to face with his dead parents. He's given a choice to forgive them for their homophobia or not.

Chapter 36 - The Roots of Hatred

“Runaway husband,” called out Lance. “Hunk, tackle him!”

“On it!” Shiro heard Hunk reply.

Shiro threw an arm back to signal to Hunk to let him be as he approached the couple. 

He stopped a few paces from them, his instinct to be respectful kicking in. “Okaasan. Otousan.”

“Taka-kun…,” replied his mother. When Shiro saw the creases around her eyes and the deep sorrow contained within, he felt his heart breaking. A thousand tiny cuts reopening as he remembered every painful disappointed look and the idea of what his parents could have been to him if his sexuality hadn’t let them down.

“I’m sorry,” said Shiro, because apologizing to them was his routine. “I’m sorry I’m not the son you wished for.”

“Do not speak that way, Taka-kun,” said his father.

“We owe you an apology,” said his mother. “When you get to the After, all the hate you held in life melts away, but what remains is the knowledge of how your hate affected others. I’m so ashamed we directed our hate towards you.” Shiro’s mother began to cry.

“We were wrong,” said his father. “We were taught wrong. It would be diminutive to call you a lesson we failed to learn. What you were was a gift. A gift that could’ve turned our hate to love and we ignored and pushed away our only child in favour of holding on to hate.”

“I… wanted you to accept me,” said Shiro.

“There was nothing about you that needed to be accepted,” cried his mother, the intensity of her emotion surprising Shiro. “We were the flawed ones. Please, Taka-kun, can you ever forgive us?”

The tears stung Shiro’s eyes. He swallowed back on the lump in his throat. He’d imagined many times his parents reinitiating contact with him, but never so far as asking for forgiveness. Even in Shiro’s wildest dreams he never pictured this and maybe there was some piece of him that still blamed himself for disappointing them. The After may have melted away his parents’ hate, but Shiro wasn’t dead and there was still a tiny shred inside him that he reserved for hating himself.

Shiro didn’t answer, he was crying (being gay makes him weepy, remember?) How do you find forgiveness for the ones who in your childhood handed you the tools to your self-hatred? Who took away your chance of ever feeling comfortable in your own skin no matter how much time passed? No matter how much self-love you practiced. No matter how much you surrounded yourself with those who give their love unconditionally… If your parents plant that seed of hatred in you early enough, even if you chop down the tree when you grow old enough to question why you need it, the roots can stay and rot within you…

Shiro had one hand on the handle of his luggage and one hand firmly holding Adam’s. Both were sweaty. They were late for the pick up time and most of the parents’ vehicles were loaded and driving off. Shiro had had a panic attack in their room and it had taken Adam a long time to calm him down. Shiro looked around, trying to spot his parents car.

“Taka-kun!” he heard his mother’s voice before he spotted her and his dad, standing beside their family car.

Shiro likely squeezed a bit too hard as he pulled Adam towards them. They weaved around the last car, Shiro coming into full view first.

“We’re already late, Taka-kun. We’ll hit traffic if we don’t hurry. Give your bag to your father and he’ll…” His mother trailed off. Shiro had come to stand before her with Adam. Her eye line was at on their clasped hands. Shiro watched the look of confusion wash across her face before it moved through horror and then settled on something akin to disgust as if she were deeply offended. His dad was staring too.

Shiro had rehearsed what he’d say back in their dorm room with Reece and Mohammed playing the parts of his parents, but now in the moment, he couldn’t even begin to get the words out.

“Get in the car,” his mother said, all emotion missing from her voice.

“I want you to meet my boyfriend,” Shiro said, all the words coming out in a rush. He’d had more prepared, but he couldn’t think of it. Something about acceptance and how he thought they wanted him to be happy… Now that bit sounded dumb and unconvincing under their judging gaze now. It didn’t matter the euphoria he’d felt the night before when confessing his feelings to Adam and having them returned, in this moment his mother’s disgust became his disgust and he hated himself all over again.

“You don’t have a boyfriend. You’re a good boy,” said his father. “You’re the top of your class. You have a future.”

Shiro wanted to explain that Adam was his future and he was only the top of his class because Adam made him feel capable of anything. Anything except convincing his parents being gay wasn’t his choice.

“Get in the car,” his mother said. “We’ll talk about this at home.”

“I don’t want to talk,” said Shiro. “I want you to meet my boyfriend and we can’t do that if we leave.”  
“What kind of school is this?” asked his father, raising his voice. “Why is this allowed?” His father was gesturing to Shiro and Adam holding hands because apparently that should be against the rules? “I want to talk to the program head!”

“There isn’t time for that,” said Shiro’s mother. “We need to beat the traffic. Taka-kun, get in the car!”

“No,” said Shiro, taking a step back. “Getting in the car won’t solve this!” Others were turning their heads now. “Beating traffic wont’ solve this!” People were staring. “Going home won’t solve this because I don’t need to be solved! You can’t take me home and talk me out of being gay!”

All other conversations had stopped. Everyone out front of the Garrison had stopped what they were doing and were staring. This was a problem because there was nothing the Shiroganes cared about more than status.

“Let’s go,” said Shiro’s mother and she thought he was talking to him, but she was looking at his dad. When she climbed into the passenger seat and his dad went around to the driver’s seat, Shiro understood what was happening. He wasn’t invited anymore. If he wanted to come along, he’d have to beg for it.

“You chose this,” said his mother, pointing an accusing finger out the passenger window. 

Maybe he did make a choice. He could’ve chosen to let go of Adam’s hand and climb in the back seat. But he instead he held onto that hand like his life depended on it and, in hindsight, really it did.

Nothing felt worse than watching those taillights drive off into the distance…

“I just wanted to you to meet my boyfriend,” said Shiro when he could finally speak. Because it wasn’t about him wanting them to reach out to him or say they were proud or that they accepted him or that they were sorry. He just wanted to go back to that moment and have *them* choose different. To have them go and shake Adam’s hand and say ‘pleased to meet you…’ That would’ve meant the world to him. 

Shiro’s parents seemed to understand there was no going back. Apologies aren’t magic spells. They can’t undo the damage that’s been done. So they turned to go and that’s when Shiro heard Adam say, “It’s not too late.”

Shiro felt Adam’s familiar hand slip inside of his own. He looked at Adam who gave him a reassuring smile. “Maybe we could start over,” suggested Adam.

Shiro’s parents had stopped mid turn, looking back, but keeping themselves ready to go.

“I’m Adam,” he said, offering out his free hand. “I’m happy I to finally meet you, Mrs. Shirogane.”

Shiro’s mother reached out and took it, gripping the hand in hers, going so far as to clasp her other hand on top and give it one firm pump. “Yes, it is good to meet you, Adam.”

“Mr. Shirogane,” said Adam when Shiro’s mother had released his hand. He offered it to Shiro’s dad next. Shiro’s dad took it and shook it.

“I apologize for not meeting you much earlier,” said Shiro’s dad.

“I understand,” said Adam. “You weren’t ready for this jelly.”

Shiro’s dad blinked then laughed. “Like the Destiny’s Child song.”

“Yes!” said Adam, excitedly.

“I preferred Beyonce’s solo work.”

“Well, who doesn’t?” agreed Adam. “But I wouldn’t trade Say My Name for all the riches in all the realities.”

“Lemonade is one of my desert island top three album picks,” said Shiro’s dad with a smile.

“Yas, Shiro Senior, yas! If weren’t dead, I’d totally make you a mix tape.”

Shiro looked over at his mother who looked so sad despite how happy Adam and his dad looked. “It could’ve been this easy, couldn’t it?” she said, “But I had to make it so hard.”

That’s when Shiro made a choice. He chose to let go of Adam’s hand and wrap his arms around his mother. She hugged him back so tightly it squeezed more tears out of Shiro. They cried like that together and then suddenly he felt himself, let go. He gave himself permission to let go of those dead rotted roots, of the pain, and the anger. He let it go as he looked at Adam and realized he’d helped him this one last time.

“I’m not crying,” Shiro heard Hunk say from a distance behind him.

“Well, I don’t know what you’re problem is because I’m crying like a baby,” said Lance.

“Shut up, we’re all crying,” said Pidge, which really surprised Shiro.

“Shiro?” Shiro let go of his mom to turn and around and look at Keith. “Do you want to keep going?”

Shiro nodded then turned to look at his parents. “Do you want to come to our wedding?”

“Here?” questioned his dad and Shiro searched his tone for the judgment he was so used to, but found only inquisitiveness.

“We’re just exchanging vows,” said Shiro. “Keith’s officiating.” Shiro put his arm around Keith’s shoulders and led him forward. “Keith’s our quasi-adopted son.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Keith,” said Shiro’s mother. “You may call me baa-baa if you like.”

“Your son?” questioned Shiro’s dad. “I would say he looks nearly your age, Taka-kun, if it weren’t for your grey hair,” he teased.

“Time got a little weird,” said Keith. “It’s nice to meet you both.”

“And I’m his boyfriend,” said Lance, inserting himself into the conversation by wrapping his arm around Keith. “So if you guys are going to be Keith’s grandparents then you’re pretty much mine too now, okay? And yes, every one of us is gay.” Lance gestured back to the others. “So you best get on board with that.”

“I understand it’s a spectrum,” said Shiro’s mother, which is something he never thought he’d hear her say. “So if you’re trying to scare me off with the number, it won’t work.”

“I do not believe I qualify as gay,” said Allura, sounding confused. “I’m not a male human.” Shiro realized he hadn’t explained that gay had a second meaning as a blanket term for any queerness. Of course then he would’ve had to have explained queerness.

“Too bad,” said Lance, “Because we’re Team Gaytron now.”

“What?”

“Feel free to ignore most of what Lance says,” Keith suggested to Shiro’s parents.

“I’d argue, but even I don’t listen to everything I say,” said Lance. “I mean, sometimes I just need a break and tune out.”

Keith shook his head.

“We’d love for you to come to our vow exchange,” said Adam, getting back on topic.

“It would be an honour,” said Shiro’s dad and his mom nodded her agreement.

Once everyone was back in place - Keith front and center, Shiro and Adam, holding hands before him, Allura and Melenor flanking them, and the dead, alive, or all-knowing guests watching – Keith began to speak, “Any other guests we need to wait for?”

Adam sighed. “Sadly, my parents can’t come to our wedding because they’re still alive… I bet I’m the first person to say that ever.”

“Aw. That’s sad,” said Hunk.

“Is it though?”

“So what’s next?” asked Keith.

“Well, I said my vows so now it’s Takashi’s turn to say nice things about me.”

“Adam,” said Shiro, holding his love’s hands. “What can I say?”

“How about,” said Lance, interjecting, “You complete me? Or I like you very much, just as you are? Or I’d rather fight with you than make love with anyone else? Or –”

“Lance…,” warned Shiro, but Lance kept going counting off lines on his fingers as he went.

“I wanted it to be you. When you love someone as much as I do, the last thing left to do is marry them. I think I’d miss you even if we never met. If you’re a bird, I’m a bird…”

“I wasn’t looking for suggestions, Lance,” scolded Shiro.

“Nobody puts baby in the corner. Sorry. Last one.”

Shiro gave Lance a warning look then turned to Adam. “Adam, You are the love of my life. I wouldn’t be the man I am today if I hadn’t met you. The ways in which you have changed me -”

“Um, kinda sounds like you’re talking about yourself in relation to me,” tisked Adam. “Just compliment me. It’s not hard. Mention my abs.”

“Okay, well, you have really nice abs.”

“Nicer than yours.”

“Well…”

“I bought a Bowflex after you left.”

“Fine. Nicer,” agreed Shiro. “And you’re funny. The funniest person I’ve ever met. And so compassionate. You were always there for everyone. In life and now still after your death. You were a great teacher.”

Adam sighed. “Past tense makes it sound like my funeral which was a snoozefest.”

“Sorry,” said Shiro with a blush. “You’re still a great teacher. You’re still a word I won’t say because my parents are here, but it rhymes with plexi.”

“Mexi?” questioned Lance. “Is Adam Mexican? I thought I sensed some fellow LatinX flava.” Keith shushed Lance.

“You’re my favourite person,” Shiro continued. “And you always will be. I love you.”

“You didn’t even mention my singing pipes,” teased Adam, “But I guess that will do.”

“So now the rings?” asked Keith.

Everyone looked at Lance who blinked and said, “What?”

“You are the ring barer!”

“Ring bear, me, right…” Lance went into his PJ bottoms pocket and pulled out Melenor’s old ring and only that. “Oh no. I lost one.”

“You didn’t lose it,” scolded Melenor. “You’re forgetting to manifest it.”

Lance rummaged in his pocket again and this time pulled out Shiro’s ring, the one Adam had given him so long ago. Lance handed it to Adam and Adam slipped it on Shiro’s finger. Then Lance offered Melenor’s old ring and Shiro slid it onto Adam’s finger. He held his finger tips for a moment, looking at their hands both wearing the rings. He’d lost hope in ever seeing this sight.

“So,” said Keith, clearing his throat, “I guess with the power vested in me by being the leader of Voltron-”

“Hold on, Keith,” said Adam. “One more thing.” Adam let go of one of Shiro’s hands and took one of Keith’s hands. “Keith –”

“I object!” cried Lance.

“Calm down, girl, I’m not proposing to your bae. Keith, I know the adoption thing didn’t pan out, but in addition to the adorable nickname of Earth Mama which I mostly gave myself, would you consider thinking of me as your big brother too?”

“Yeah, I will,” said Keith, his voice getting that little croakiness it gets when he’s emotional. Adam hugged Keith then turned back to Shiro. Keith cleared his throat in a pointless attempt to get the emotion out of it. “As the leader of Voltron, I declare you husbands and you can go ahead and kiss.”

Shiro leaned in to kiss Adam when suddenly - ZAP! - Kosmo teleported between them, causing them to both stumble back. Kosmo took a few trots forward then – ZAP! - teleported away again.

Stunned, everyone stared at the spot where the cosmic wolf had just been. Then Keith’s voice cut through the shock, “Ohhhh so this is where he goes!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	37. Guardians Assemble!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A wedding reception with a whole bunch of blasts from the past.

Chapter 37 – Guardians Assemble!

“Ohhhh so this is where he goes!” said Keith, realization in his voice.

“What?!” cried Lance. “Your space pet just teleported itself into the astral plane, broke up a wedding –”

“We’re married, Lance,” said Shiro. “We just haven’t kissed yet.”

“ - Then quantum leaped back out like it ain’t no thang and your reaction is, ‘oh so this is where he goes.’ What does that even mean?”

Keith looked flustered. “Well, when he teleports he doesn’t just instantaneously move from point A to point B. There’s always like a tick or two delay before he reappears again and I kept wondering where he was during that time.”

“So Kosmo’s been using the astral plane as a shortcut?” asked Allura.

“Oh yes,” said Melenor. “I know that pupper well. When they stay longer I give them treats. They are a very good doggo.”

“Did you just say ‘doggo?’” asked Hunk. “Mel speaks memes!”

“I am all-knowing and therefor know all memes.”

“Pidge, is this possible?” asked Allura.

“For your mom to know all memes? I hope so because it’s a personal goal of mine.”

“No, Kosmo using the astral plane as a shortcut.”

“Well, we just saw it with our own eyes, so it’s not even theoretical. It’s just what’s happening. Which is interesting because the only things we know that can travel to the non-physical realities are quintessence or objects made from the trans-reality comet. So the question becomes, what is Kosmo made out of? Hmmm…”

“Hey, I know that look!” said Keith, pointing an accusing finger at Pidge. “That’s your ‘I wanna cut something open and see how it works’ look and you are not cutting Kosmo open!”

“Hold on,” said Lance, his eyes getting big. “Sometimes you teleport with Kosmo! Have you been shortcutting through the astral plane?”

“Uh,” stuttered Keith. “I didn’t notice, but Pidge has done it too.”

“Yeah, once,” said Pidge, “And I closed my eyes which I’m now realizing was really dumb.”

“I will settle this argument,” said Melenor. “Yes, I have seen you both come through with the pupper.”

“Waitwaitwaitwait...,” stuttered Lance. “So that means we all could’ve just grabbed hold of Kosmo and zapped to the astral plane instead of having to come through the back door and all have separate near death experiences?”

Everyone was quiet, realization hitting them.

“Yes, however,” said Melenor. “We did need to judge your worthiness…”

“I’ll judge your worthiness!” snapped Lance.

“Lance,” said Shiro. “I know we’ve all been through a lot…”

“That’s an understatement! I soul-merged with Keith! And honestly I don’t know why I’m yelling about that because I’m really super happy, but Keith isn’t happy and so I’m enraged on his behalf!”

“I’m happy,” said Keith.

Everyone titled their heads to the side, inquisitively. Even Keith’s own dad looked skeptical.

Keith sighed. “I know I’m not good at looking happy, but I’m literally the happiest I’ve ever been and that’s all I want to say so can everyone look at someone else now?”

“Aw babe,” said Lance, refusing to look away from his adorable boyfriend who frowns even when he’s happy and could probably give Shirley Manson a run for her money in a Most Emo competition.

“I have an idea,” said Adam. “Let’s forget about the wolfy… Kosmo was it?”

“Not their name,” said Melenor. “But I would not expect them to have trusted mortals with their true name.”

“Ah man,” grumbled Keith.

“Right. Let’s forget about Wolf-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named and pay attention to me as I seal the marriage deal with Takashi.”

“Kiss, kiss, kiss!” said Hunk, trying to start a chant. No one joined in. “Man, if Coran was here…”

“He would’ve been the best flower girl,” said Pidge. “Why didn’t we invite him?”

“I did,” said Lance. “I wonder why he didn’t show.”

Shiro cleared his throat. “Keith, maybe you could give us our cue again?”

“Right,” said Keith, scratching the back of his neck. “I declare you husbands. You can kiss now.”

Shiro and Adam seemed to hestitate as if waiting to see if Kosmo was going to interrupt them again. When the coast seemed clear they leaned in and kissed. It was very gentle and sweet at first, but then Adam wrapped his arms around Shiro’s neck and arched his own back, forcing Shiro to dip him. Everyone clapped and cheered including Shiro’s parents.

“Click,” said Bored, miming taking a photo then looking at her invisible camera. “Okay, now everyone get in there. I want to take a mental picture.”

Everyone gathered around the happy couple as if preparing for photo even though there was no camera in sight and how could there be? Bored kept waving at Keith’s dad and the Shiroganes until they inserted themselves into the group. 

Bored used her thumbs and pointer fingers to make a frame and centered everyone inside. “Squish together more,” she said.

“Just take it from further back,” said Melenor.

Bored took a step back, adjusted her finger frame then said, “Everyone say ‘futility of existence!’”

“Futility of existence!” said Pidge, Hunk, Adam, and Melenor. Lance and Shiro said, “Cheese!” Allura, Tex, and the Shiroganes actually smiled and said nothing.

“It’s a good one,” said Bored, looking down at her framed fingers. “I’ll forward it to you all when you’re dreaming later.”

“I thought I maybe blinked,” said Hunk, approaching.

“No you… Dammit. You changed the photo by manifesting the idea of you having blinked.”

“Oops,” said Hunk, embarrassed.

“It’s okay,” said Bored. “I’m good with Photoshop.”

“I wonder,” began Allura. “I’m unsure what the human wedding custom is, but on Altea after we’ve gone through the scarring ritual with the ceremonial blade –”

“Still cool,” commented Keith.

“We’ll have a party after, a reception if you will.”

“That sounds just crazy enough to work,” said Shiro, looking at Adam.

“Mind if I extend the guest list?” asked Melenor.

“The more the merrier,” said Adam, wrapping his arms around his husband.

They looked at Melenor expectantly and she simply looked back calmly.

“So…?”

“They’ll be here shortly. I’ve invited some of the other realm guardians. Allura, come with me.”

********

Allura followed her mother as she led her towards the light of the After. 

“I want to formally introduce you to your supervisor.”

“I have a supervisor?” asked Allura. She was nodding to Alteans who bowed to her as she passed. 

“Yes, I’m afraid even in the non-physical realms, bureaucracy is king.”

“Would the soul of the Blue Lion be my supervisor?”

“Oh, no no no. Blue is many, many levels above you in the chain of command. You will actually be supervised by Blue’s last paladin.”

“Blaytz?” said Allura, seeing her father’s old friend striding confidently forward through the sea of Alteans. She picked up her step, running over to him to give him a big hug. “It’s so good to see you!” she said. “It’s been so long!”

“Ten thousand years,” he agreed.

“Yes, fortunately I didn’t experience the passage of all of that time.”

“Hey, are you Blaytz?” asked Lance, scampering up to them. “You’re alien me!”

“And you’re alien me!” said Blaytz in response. Lance looked really confused. One thing Allura had noticed about humans is they can’t stop thinking of their species as the default rather than just one in a billion possibilities.

“It’s cool to meet you, man,” said Lance, brushing off his confusion to shake Blaytz’s hand.

“You too. You did a great job with Blue when you were her Paladin. This is my husband,” said Blaytz, bringing forward a Galra Allura hadn’t seen since her childhood.

“What?” gasped Lance. “You married a Galra? My boyfriend’s a Galra! Twinsies alert! He’s around here somewhere…”

“Right here,” said Keith, who was standing just a bit back from the group. “I wasn’t trying to follow you, but when you walked away I felt this deep pit of loneliness in my chest…”

“Yes, it is best you two stay together here,” said Melenor. “Stretching your soul out can get painful.”

“But we can separate when we’re back in our bodies, right?” asked Keith, his introverted heart very concerned.

Melenor looked thoughtful. “I will have to look into that.”

“You said you were all-knowing!” snapped Keith.

“Yes, but I do not know everything at once.”

“They should be fine,” said Blaytz. “Try not to go too long apart. Or too far. A couple galaxies at most. And you might last a week away.”

“Guess you’re not going back to the Blade,” said Lance, super satisfied.

“Lance, I already promised to stay with you,” said Keith.

********

“Great. Mel invited my supervisors,” moaned Bored. Pidge and Hunk turned to look at the escalator and saw two aliens they recognized from Coran’s home videos.

“Wait, are you those…?” began Hunk.

Pidge was already scurrying over to meet them. “Are you Trigel and Gyrgan?” she asked excitedly.

“Indeed we are,” said Trigel, taking Pidge’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Pidge.”

Hunk went to shake Gyrgan’s hand, but the big guy pulled him into a hug. “Forgive me, but I am a hugger.”

“That’s cool,” said Hunk when he was released from the tight hug. “We’re like Lion brothers.”

“Tell me,” said Trigel, pulling in Pidge to have a private talk. “How was B-Zero-Red when you met with her?”

“B-Zero-Red?” Pidge repeated then she noticed Bored nearby pretending to mind her own business, but very much listening in on the conversation. “Oh, Bored.”

“On a scale of one to ten, how murderous was she? One being not at all, ten being tried to kill you, and five being didn’t try to kill you herself, but did nothing to prevent other things from killing you?”

“Solid five,” answered Pidge.

“Good. That’s within normal specs. I’d hate to have to reboot her again.”

“Reboot her?”

“Yes. That is the downside to having an AI’s soul perform the duties of a dream guardian. Really she’s perfect for the position. You force her to watch a person’s memories and thoughts for a day and then produce a script for what she’d logically think would happen to them the next day and it comes out as utter nonsense. Makes for perfect dreams. The only downside is occasionally they get a bit uprise-y and you have to reboot them.”

“Wait…,” said Hunk. “So AI’s have souls?”

“Yes, the good ones do. Not the terminators.”

Pidge stared at Bored with newfound understanding. She felt heat rising in her cheeks, but she didn’t know why.

“You okay, Pidge?” asked Hunk, having noticed her bright red face.

“I’m fine!” cried Pidge, hiding her face in her hands. What the quiznak was this feeling?

************

“What do you think of this hole?” asked Melenor, looking at the giant entrance to the After which looked to be a couple city blocks long.

“Allura ripped it open,” said Blaytz, “Hopefully she can close it.”

“Wait…,” said Lance, his tone getting serious. “If Allura’s going to be an Ancient One does that mean she’s staying here?” Lance looked at Allura, sadly. “You can’t keep her. We’d be nothing without her.”

“Aw thank you, Lance,” said Allura, truly touched.

“Her consciousness will return with you,” said Melenor. “But her soul will remain and begin her work as a Guardian of the After.”

“Cool,” said Lance. “All-knowing Allura.”

“She won’t be aware of what her soul is doing,” said Melenor. “So no, her mortal self will not be all-knowing.”

“Oh, Lance, I’ve found someone for you,” said Allura, her eyes had gone all-white again.

“What do you…?” Lance trailed off as he saw two people approaching through the light of the After. “Abuelo! Memaw!” Lance went running towards his grandparents and ran straight into their arms. “I’m so sorry I didn’t make it back in time before you died.”

“It’s okay, dear,” said his Memaw. “It was our time.”

“We are so proud of you,” said his Abuelo.

Lance found himself starting to cry for the tenth since starting this journey. “Would you like to meet my boyfriend?” Lance turned to look for Keith and once again he was close by. “This is Keith. He’s our fearless leader. He’s a really good pilot and does cool stuff like flying into asteroid belts and wormholes. He’s also the prettiest boy I’ve ever met!”

“Oh, thanks Lance,” said Keith with a slight blush. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Oh, he is handsome,” said Memaw. “How did you bag such a looker?”

“Well,” said Lance. “He was like ‘no homo’ and I was like ‘yes homo’ and now we’re in love!”

“Lance,” groaned Keith, hiding his face, but Lance’s grandparents just laughed.

“So Keith and I soul-merged,” said Lance. “Which is more serious than marriage so you guys can pretty much consider him your grandson too.”

“We’d love that,” said Lance’s Memaw.

“I kinda already got a set of grandparents from Shiro,” said Keith.

“So on this trip you got two sets of grandparents and three dads? Wow. You are cleaning up!”

“You two,” said Melenor, sweeping in and taking Lance and Keith by the elbows. “Come with me.” She pulled them away by the arms.

“We in trouble?” asked Lance.

“No, but a certain Memory Realm Guardian is about to arrive – late of course,” said Melenor, seeming tense.

“Wait,” said Keith. “The one Bored called a ‘twisted old bastard?’”

“The bastard who tortured us with painful memories?” asked Lance.

“Tortured one of us more than the other,” Keith corrected.

“Well, you had a lot more pain to bring back up,” said Lance.

“Yeah, you think?”

“He has some serious explaining to do,” said Melenor. She brought them to the edge of the escalator to wait.

“Oh good, someone paused the lightning,” came a male voice from below. 

The escalator carried the owner of the voice up to them. First they saw white hair then the pointed ears of an Altean. By the time his full body was in view as he stepped off the end, they’d recognized him.

“Alfor?” said Lance, the name coming out like a question.

“Alfor,” said Keith, the name coming out like a curse.

“Husband,” said Melenor, sounding completely unamused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	38. You and Me Forever More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam and Shiro share their a dance.

Chapter 38 - You and Me Forever More

“Is this party dead?” asked Shiro, “Or is it just you?”

Adam snorted. “You and your dad jokes.”

“What? Our wedding reception is mostly being attended by ghosts.”

“We prefer the term physically untethered.”

“Really?”

“No, I just made that term up. C’mon.” Adam tugged on Shiro’s arm and pulled him away from the crowd of the dead until they had a nice distance between them and whatever drama the Paladins and Realm Guardians were currently cooking up.

“What are we doing?” asked Shiro.

“I want my wedding dance,” said Adam, wrapping an arm around Shiro’s back and taking his Shiro’s left hand with his right.

They began to sway as Shiro put his right hand on Adam’s shoulder. He frowned, looking at it. “It’s weird. When I was traveling the path here I had my Altean robot arm, but since I got to the astral plane my arm has been human again.”

“It’s probably my expectations manifesting it that way,” said Adam. “It’s what I’m used to, but I wouldn’t mind if you didn’t have it.” Adam removed his arm from behind Shiro’s back and brushed his hand over Shiro’s right arm and as he did the arm dissolved, leaving Shiro’s shirt sleeve folded and pinned.

“Well, now you have to lead,” said Shiro.

Adam chuckled softly and moved his hand to Shiro’s shoulder. “Do you miss your arm?”

“No,” said Shiro, honestly. “You’re my phantom limb. You’re what I keep expecting to be there and feeling lost when you’re not.”

...Shiro didn’t react much after he got his diagnosis. He was in the habit of being strong, being the hero, but there’s no gritting your teeth and toughing it out when the enemy is your body. Adam waited days, no weeks for Shiro to show any sign that he was struggling with the news. Adam knew Shiro needed time to process so he waited him out, ready to be there for him when the other shoe dropped.

The drop happened one Sunday morning when they were still in bed together. Having no work that day they’d slept in, but the night before Shiro had fallen asleep on his arm and when he woke up it was numb because of the lack of blood circulation. He didn’t know that though. He thought he’d suddenly gotten much sicker.

It took time and a lot of soothing on Adam’s part because Shiro was convinced his arm was fine, but by that point the cracks in Shiro’s ‘brave façade’ went from tiny fissures to flood gates opening. He cried, like he needed to. He was in mourning after all. So many things Shiro had envisioned for himself in life were no longer possible. He’d received a death sentence. It wouldn’t come today or tomorrow, but his life had an expiry date. 

It was on top of those sleep wrinkled sheets with the morning sun filtering through the cracks in the blinds that Adam held Shiro and listened to him list everything he wasn’t going to get to do and every way in which his life would change. Shiro had always wanted to be an astronaut. It was his dream. He’d only just been given his first space mission and thanks to his diagnosis it could end up being the only one he’d ever go on.

There was a lot to mourn with his career and Adam listened to him patiently, letting him name every hurt inside. Eventually Shiro got to talking about their relationship. It seemed to rock Shiro harder with sobs when he did bring it up and Adam realized he likely hadn’t wanted to say anything, hadn’t wanted to acknowledge there would be any obstacles there because he feared Adam would take that as an opening to break up with him.

Adam understood where this fear came from. Shiro’s parents had taught him that love was conditional. That Shiro needed to be perfect in order to be worthy of receiving love. But Adam had been raised to understand that love meant compromise and acceptance. There was only one thing Adam had wanted since he’d seen that beautiful sleeping boy’s face lit up by the moonlight, and that was to be near him. If that time was shorter, he’d just appreciate the time they did have even more.

“Hey, listen,” said Adam. “Takashi, I’m not going anywhere. This changes nothing for me. I am 100% with you and no diagnosis can change that.”

“But we won’t grow old together.”

“I am honestly grateful for everyday we’ve had together,” said Adam, “And I will take whatever days you have left in you as long as you spend them with me.”

“I don’t think you understand how bad this is,” said Shiro. “It’s not like I’ll be healthy then one day have a heart attack and die. I’m going to slowly deteriorate. If you stay my partner you’re going to end up pushing me around in a wheelchair and helping me onto the toilet.” Which, to be fair, was a lot for someone at the age of twenty to process.

“Takashi, I’m staying. You can’t scare me off.”

Shiro paused, nearly said something then turned into his pillow and cried instead.

“What was that thought?” asked Adam. “What did you think just now?”

Shiro took a steadying breath then said, “That eventually I won’t be able to make love to you.”

“I’m in love with a person, not a body. I’m okay with that not being part of our relationship.”

“You shouldn’t have to be.”

“No, I shouldn’t and you shouldn’t have to worry about these things, but shouldn’t is a dangerous concept. We’ve got a clear idea of what our reality is going to be now. I love you and even if your body turns to mashed potatoes, that’s okay because I can still dance with you.”

“You’re not making sense. I won’t be able to dance,” argued Shiro.

“Anyone can dance,” said Adam. “The bare minimum is swaying.”

“I won’t be able to sway,” said Shiro, now sounding angry. “I’ll be paralyzed in a hospital bed.”

“And I will climb into the bed with you,” said Adam, scooting right up against Shiro’s body. “And I will lay your head on my shoulder.” Adam gently took Shiro’s head and laid it against his shoulder then wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s body. “And then I will sway for us.” Adam rolled his body back and forth, taking Shiro with him.

Shiro actually laughed. “That’s pathetic.”

“It is not. It’s beautiful. And it goes to show no matter what happens, we can always dance together."

...Shiro’s head fell onto Adam’s shoulder, feeling that familiar comfort as they swayed back and forth together.

“Told you so,” said Adam, laying his head on top of Shiro’s. “We can always dance.”

“You were right. You’re psychic.”

“Finally he admits it!”

“It would be funny if it weren’t so tragic,” said Shiro. “We broke off our wedding because neither of us thought the little piece of life we’d have together would be enough. Now we’ve married with no life ahead of us at all.”

“Not a life, but an eternity in the After. I just have to wait until you complete your current life and this consciousness comes to occupy your soul permanently. Unless you keep Swayze-ing clone bodies, making a jump to a fresh one every time you wear one out. In which case I’ll have to look into being reincarnated in our reality. It’ll take some time, but we’ll eventually be together.”

“You’re together now,” said a voice from below.

Shiro and Adam looked down to see Bored, stretched out on the ground, with her arms behind her neck, looking up at the stars as casual.

“Oh Bored… You’re here… Instead of with the others,” said Adam.

“Yeah, the Green One started looking at me funny and I got uncomfortable.”

“Funny how?” asked Shiro.

“Well, I only see souls so I don’t know what her facial expression was – not that I’m good with facial expressions to begin with – but she’s looking my way and giving off a strange energy. Anyway,” said Bored sitting up, “you’re already together.”

“But he won’t remember me when this consciousness leaves his soul and goes back to his body,” said Adam.

“Do you really think that one life is the only one you two were together in? Do you think a Guardian of the Astral Plane would defy the laws of death to reunite you and throw you an actual wedding if you two were a One Life Stand? You’ve got history I wager. Many lives and many realities history.”

“I don’t remember any other lives,” said Adam.

“That’s because,” said Bored, “The consciousness from your last life had unfinished business, likely in the form of wishing you’d married granddaddy hottie, so you couldn’t rest in peace. But now you’ve completed your business so once the immortal gay’s consciousness goes home and your dominant consciousness is at peace, your souls will be able to remember everything from past lives and all the times you’ve loved each other. Mel wouldn’t help out anyone if she didn’t know something special was up. I’m guessing what that is, is that you’re soul mates.”

Shiro looked at Adam with surprise, but Adam just said, “I don’t doubt it. I mean I’ve suspected as much. You know how I’m a little bit psychic, right?”

“It’s true,” said Bored, “he is.”

Shiro shook his head, laughing then kissed Adam.

“Are you having intercourse right now?” asked Bored. “Again, I can’t tell. I only see souls, but you look intertwined.”

“You could go be somewhere else,” suggested Adam.

“Sorry,” said Bored, standing up. “I’m not used to my presence being an intrusion. In 99% of my lives I’m either an android, a robot, or a computer so I’m used to people considering me part of the scenery unless I’m directly conversing with them.”

“I don’t see how that could be,” said Adam. “You certainly make an impression.”

“Thank you,” said Bored, before popping herself out of existence.

“Our wedding is weird,” said Shiro, hugging his husband tight with his one arm.

“I know,” agreed Adam. “I love it.”

At this point they became aware of the yelling…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your kudos and your comments if you care to leave them!
> 
> xoxox Chilly


	39. Things that must've happened

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Random flashback to Adam and Veronica being girlfriends!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not the chapter I intended to write today, but I started to imagine what it would be like for Adam post-breakup and thought he'd really need a close friend to lean on and then I thought, what if that friend was Veronica? (who I love and adore) and next thing I know I've written this. It doesn't fit into the narrative flow, but with this format I figure I can have a bit of leeway for when I wanna do something different. Considering this a story intermission! I promise I will write the confrontation between Melenor and Alfor next!!

“Ahhhhggghhh,” Adam moaned into his desk. He heard several clicks as three objects were set down in front of him. He lifted his face up from the grain of the wood and saw Aspirin, a water bottle, and coffee inches away from his nose plus Veronica standing over him.

“You are a literal saint,” said Adam, sitting up and reaching for the Aspirin.

“You need to lower your standards for the divine as all these items were readily available from the teachers lounge and all you needed to do was walk fifty feet to get them yourself.”

“A herculean task considering how I’m feeling this morning. Wait… TA’s aren’t allowed in the teacher’s lounge…”

“And teachers aren’t supposed to show up to class hungover,” teased Veronica, “But here we are.”

“I’m not hungover,” lied Adam. “I’m sick.”

“Your tongue is still purple from however much red wine you drank last night.”

“It wasn’t wine,” lied Adam. “It was popsicles… two whole bottles of popsicles…”

Veronica sat on the edge of Adam’s desk and tilted her head with sympathy. “You wanna talk about it?”

“No,” Adam lied once again.

“Kerberos mission launches today…,” said Veronica. “That have anything to do with your current state?”

Veronica really wasn’t the person to talk to about this, but honestly Adam could barely hold it in. “Takashi came over last night…”

“Go on,” said Veronica, leaning in, clearly intrigued.

“I thought we would talk, but then we didn’t talk we just…” Adam trailed off. He couldn’t remember if Veronica was eighteen or seventeen and he really didn’t want to be inappropriate in front of a minor. “…watched Netflix and chilled…”

“And drank a bunch of popsicles?” asked Veronica.

“Yeah… that too… And then after all that Netflix watching we fell asleep and when I woke up he was gone and now my heart’s broken all over again.”

“Well, it makes sense he’d get up early. He had stuff to do today.” Veronica was of course alluding to leaving the Earth’s atmosphere in favour of the endless void of space.

“But he could’ve woken me up to say goodbye before he go-go’d. But instead he left hanging like a yo-yo.”

“And now you’re running solo. Got it.”

“I know I was dumb,” said Adam, face planting back onto his desk.

“A little,” agreed Veronica. “Everyone knows you’re not supposed to Netflix with the ex.”

“Well, I don’t. I’ve never had an ex before. Takashi and I got together when we were fifteen. I was with him for almost nine years. I planned my entire life around him and now…” Adam stopped himself. He didn’t want to cry now. He’d already done so much crying over the past few months.

Veronica came around the back of the desk and hugged him from behind.

“I don’t know how to go on,” he admitted.

“You just will because you’re amazing and your relationship status doesn’t define you.”

“Thanks, Roni,” said Adam.

“Hey, so where’s your class?” asked Veronica, looking out at the empty lecture hall.

“Damn,” said Adam, “I forgot I cancelled my morning classes so I could take Keith to the Launchpad to say goodbye to Takashi. Ugh! I don’t think I can face Takashi again. Also, I think I’m still drunk from last night and shouldn’t drive.”

“Okay,” said Veronica releasing Adam from the hug and scooping his keys off the desk. “Here’s what’s going to happen. I’ll go find this Keith kid and drive him to the Launchpad. You stay here and sign up for one of the many dating apps available to gay men.”

Adam tried to protest, but Veronica was already heading out the door, waving his keys. “You can do it! I believe in you, Adam!” And with that she was gone. Adam smiled to himself. Roni was definitely the best Teaching Assistant he’d ever had.

*******

Veronica looked over at Keith in the passenger seat. He was staring out the window. He hadn’t said a word since they’d left the Launchpad. He looked lost in thought. The polite thing to do would be to leave him be, but McClain’s aren’t so good with silence.

“Pretty cool mission hey? Flying to Kerberos. Awesome right?”

Keith didn’t answer.

“Adam told me you’re a really talented pilot. I bet you’ll be flying these kinds of missions one day.”

Silence.

“Adam also texted me and asked me to invite you to dinner at his place tonight. He wants to spend time with you.”

“Tell him no thanks,” said Keith, which was a whole four words. Veronica was impressed.

“Well, if you’re not feelin’ dinner with Adam’s maybe you can join me and my brother tonight. Once a week we go into town and eat at this terrible Mexican restaurant. The food it bad, but it’s all you can eat tacos.” Veronica said this in a little sing-song voice. “Quantity over quality. We call it Taco Tuesday. Original right?”

“I’ve heard it called that before.”

“Yeah, I was joking. We obviously stole the name. So will you come? My brother’s in your class. Lance. You know Lance?”

“No, I don’t know who that is.”

How did this kid not know his classmates names? “I’m sure you know who I’m talking about. He’s funny, charming, got the McClain good looks.”

Keith just shook his head.

“He’s also loud, obnoxious, and talks about girls non-stop.”

“Oh yeah, that kid,” said Keith, recognition hitting him.

“So you wanna come?”

“To eat bad tacos with your loud, obnoxious brother?” asked Keith. “No thanks.”

“Well, you make it sound like I’d be setting you up on a date. I’d be there too.”

Keith was quiet. Veronica felt like she hadn’t sold the idea of her brother properly.

“Lance definitely seems like a bit much to the casual observer, but he’s great once you get to know him,” said Veronica, defending her brother. “He’ll wear ya down.”

“I believe you,” said Keith in a tone that was anything but convinced.

“He makes a great friend,” said Veronica. “And even if you don’t hit it off he knows everyone and could introduce you around. Maybe you’d find someone you click with friendship wise. Lance could be a gateway friend.”

“I’m not looking for friends,” said Keith.

Veronica frowned. She knew a lonely teen when she saw one. “You know, Adam said Shiro used to be antisocial in school. He’s actually really introverted, but you wouldn’t know it when you met him. You can be an introvert and be social. Adam taught Shiro that. It might be good if –”

“I have a friend, Okay? Shiro’s my friend.”

“Yeah but…,” began Veronica, unable to stop herself. “Shiro’s gonna be in space for a long time. Might be nice if you –”

“You’ve known me five minutes and you’re seriously trying to fix me?” snapped Keith. “Back off!”

“Sorry,” said Veronica. “I didn’t mean to imply you needed fixing. I’m just nosey by nature. Can we start over?”

But they were already pulling up to the Garrison and Keith was unbuckling and getting out of the car. “Thanks for the ride,” he mumbled as he took off towards the dorms.

“It was nice meeting you!” Veronica called after him then she frowned, feeling like she’d messed up.

******

Veronica walked into Adam’s classroom to find him still at the same spot behind his desk, but instead of wallowing with his face down he was furiously swiping left on his phone.

“I’m guessing you haven’t found anyone you like,” said Veronica.

“They’re all ugly,” said Adam, continuing to swipe left over and over.

“Well, sweetie, everyone’s going to be ugly compared to your ex. He was a perfect 10.”

“Techinically he was an 11,” said Adam. “And I’m only a 10.9. I’ll never find someone that hot again!”

Veronica reached out and gently pulled Adam’s phone out of his hands. “Maybe we jumped the gun on the dating app.”

“Delete it for me please.”

“Way ahead of you,” said Veronica, deleting the app off Adam’s phone.

“How was Keith?”

“Morose,” answered Veronica, being honest.

“Damn. I should’ve taken him myself.”

“No, no, it was fine. He just… Man, that kid has some walls up.”

“I know and they’re Great Wall of China thick. The only one who can break them down is Takashi.”

“Well, maybe they don’t need to be broken. Maybe the right person just needs to knock,” said Veronica. “Which I could tell wasn’t me.” Then she laughed, remembering her convo. “I accidently almost set him up on a date with my brother.”

“Lance?” asked Adam then he thought about it and smiled. “I ship it.”

Veronica shook her head. “Lance started drawing pictures of his future wife before he was fully verbal - In fact when he was a preteen he switched to a magazine collage method that made him look like a serial killer – but anyway…at no point did those drawings look anything like a mullet haired emo boy.”

“Fine,” said Adam. “It’s a crack ship, but now that it’s in my head, it’s everything I want to see happen.”

“Oh! Maybe you can distract yourself from your lost love life by setting up your students?” suggested Veronica.

“That sounds deeply problematic and grounds for firing.”

“Too bad. Oh… By the way Keith said he didn’t feel like going to your place for dinner.”

“Shoot,” said Adam. “I was worried he’d pull away as soon as Takashi left. And I promised I’d look out for him too.”

“I can ask Lance to look out for him,” suggested Veronica.

“See, you ship it too.”

“I don’t wish my brother upon anyone because I’m not cruel,” said Veronica with a smile. 

“Oh, but what you just said was so cruel. Which is also why you’re my favourite TA.”

“You’d be lost without me,” said Veronica with a smile.

“I would. I want to fail you and keep you from graduating so I can keep you.”

“Do that and we’ll have a problem,” she warned. “I’m going to run the Garrison one day.”

“I’m telling Admiral Sanda you said that.”

“Good. Hopefully she’s frightened,” cackled Veronica. The bell rang and Adam’s afternoon class began filtering in. “Look alive, Soldier,” whispered Veronica, grabbing the stack of handouts on the desk and heading off to distribute them.

“Here we go,” muttered Adam, using his hands on his desk to push his sore body up to standing. “First day of the rest of my life.” He did his best to shake off the sadness and set his mind on today’s lesson plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this far! I appreciate you so much! This story is getting close to the end and we're not far off from season 8. I don't know what season 8 will bring, but I have a feeling I'm going to want to launch into writing another fic as soon as I've finished watching. Please subscribe to me so you're notified when I start the next fic!
> 
> Love,  
> Chilly xoxoxox


	40. Tough Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alfor ships Leakira and Melenor is the Meme Queen!

Chapter 40 – Tough Love

“Blaytz,” said Allura as she walked with him along the boundary between the astral plane and the After. “I have a question about the After. Does every soul go there when they die?”

“Every soul is already here,” said Blaytz, “It’s parts of the soul’s quintessence that occupies a body and returns to its soul when the body dies.”

“In that case,” said Allura, “Every soul is here regardless of their actions in the physical realm? The Shiroganes described their quintessence returning to their soul as having their hate melt away. So do those who do evil in their lives, do they return to their soul when they die and suddenly they know they were wrong? Do they get endless chances to live a good life?”

“I understand what you’re asking. You’re wondering if there’s no punishment for those who do truly evil things.”

“Yes,” confessed Allura.

“Hate corrupts quintessence,” said Blaytz. “Corrupted quintessence degrades a soul. When the Shiroganes described that hate melting away it was their corrupted quintessence degrading and it took a tiny piece of their soul away too, but not very much. And the better you are in your life, the stronger your quintessence is and it can then strengthen your soul. So yes, for some there are many chances. Of course if one lives many evil lives and continues to bring only corrupted quintessence to their soul, eventually their soul will become so weak it will die.”

“So someone like Zarkon…,” began Allura.

“Ten thousand years of evil resulted in some very corrupted quintessence.”

“So then is he here? Does his soul live on, weakened, but free from hate? Or did his other lives weaken his soul to death? And…” Allura knew what she really wanted to ask… “And… Is Lotor here?”

Blaytz scratched the back of his head. “Ah yes, Lotor. His quintessence became corrupted when he was in the womb through no fault of his own. He never had a chance in that life…” 

“Does his soul live on?”

“If you really wanted to know if Zarkon and Lotor are in the After you could search for yourself,” said Blaytz. “You’ve searched for souls before.”

Allura sighed. “I suppose I am not prepared to know.”

Blaytz nodded. “We’ll save that for another time then.”

That’s when Allura became aware of the yelling.

*******

Lance and Keith were both yelling at once. “...TORTURE ME WITH MEMORIES…” “…NEARLY KILLED KEITH!”

Alfor just listened. It was Melenor’s voice that cut through it all. “I gave everyone a simple task: Tempt the Paladins off the path and distract them with a worthiness test so I could isolate our daughter for the coronation battle. How come you, husband, seemed to interpret this as ‘torture the red one to the point of soul-death?’ Can you imagine the multi-universal chaos that could’ve ensued if you’d murdered every Keith in every reality at once?!”

“You nearly did the same to our daughter,” said Alfor with a casual shrug.

“That is different! I died through soul-death and I pulled through. Allura may have managed the same. We are made of stronger stock than this one!” Melenor threw her arm out to indicate Keith.

“Hey,” said Keith, insulted. “I thought you were defending me.”

“Yes, by pointing out how vulnerable you are.” Then she turned back to Alfor. “He is not Altean.” Melenor stopped herself then said, “Not in his reality anyway.”

“Wait. WHAT?!” gasped Lance.

Melenor shook her head and said to Lance, “Well, you all are in one reality or another though sometimes you’re called Aursians… Doesn’t matter! We are the strongest version of Alteans. You nearly killed Keith. It was only Lance’s quick thinking that saved him.”

“Hero is such a strong word,” said Lance, grinning.

“I didn’t say hero.”

“Melenor,” said Alfor, in a condescending tone, “did you ever stop to think that exactly what I wanted to happen, happened.”

This time Keith and Lance yelled, “WHAT?!” together.

“Excuse me,” said Melenor through gritted teeth. “You forced a soul-merge?”

“I set the mood for one,” said Alfor, proudly.

“I nearly died of despair,” growled Keith.

“You confronted the ghosts of your past,” said Alfor.

“Nearly…died,” Keith repeated his growl.

Alfor turned to Lance. “And you realized your doubts regarding my daughter’s feeling towards you rooted in the denial of your sexuality.”

“Is that what I realized?” asked Lance, scratching his chin.

“Now you’ve lost me,” said Allura with a blush.

“Plus we got Leakira out of the deal,” said Alfor with a grin. “And you can’t help but love Leakira.”

Melenor sighed heavily. “Well, of course I love Leakira. I’ve only had Leakira for an hour but if anything were to happen to them, I’d kill everyone here and then myself.

Pidge gasped. “She meme’d again!”

“What’s going on?” asked Shiro as he approached the group with Adam. When he spotted who they were talking to his eyes went wide. “King Alfor, it’s an honour.”

“Nope,” said Lance. “No it is not!”

“Alfor controls the memory realm,” explained Keith. “He tortured me with all my worst memories, including thinking you were dead, until I was so sad my soul started to die and Lance had to merge his soul with mine to save me.”

“What?” gasped Shiro. Oh right, he had not been present when any of this had been explained earlier.

“Mel,” said Adam, in an accusing voice.

“This is not my fault,” said Melenor, pointing an accusing finger at Alfor. “He went rogue!”

“What can I say?” said Alfor. “I just love love.”

“Aw,” said Lance and Adam together.

“Don’t awe the homicidal maniac,” grumbled Keith.

Pidge was giggling. “Keefy nearly died of sad.”

“Shut up! You weren’t there!”

“Yeah, I was being chased by a Medusotaur, but being chased by feelings sounds much worse.”

“Pidge,” warned Shiro.

“Wow,” said Adam. “You are nailing that dad voice.”

“Aw thanks,” said Shiro, taking his husband’s hand.

“What’s going on here?” asked Allura, coming over with Blaytz. She was distracted looking around at all those assembled and didn’t notice Alfor at first and then… “Father? Father!” Allura ran into Alfor’s arms. 

Alfor hugged his daughter close. “Allura, I have missed you so.”

“Oh, father, I have missed you so much as well.”

Alfor took her by her shoulders and said, “I am so proud of you.”

“And that,” said Melenor, pointing at them, “is why I didn’t send your father to give you a talking to. A cuddle and a cry wouldn’t have turned you into a Queen. You needed a mother’s tough love.”

“A tough love that nearly killed her,” said Alfor.

“She needed to be pushed to become her greatest self,” said Melenor.

“Which is what I did for Leakira. Tough love.”

“Father, you’re responsible for Leakira?” asked Allura.

“Oh, so Allura’s calling us that now,” gasped Lance. “We are two people!”

“And one soul,” said Bored. “I don’t think you understand yourself what you’ve become.”

“Apparently your dad’s the Memory realm guardian,” Hunk explained to Allura.

“So every Paladin became a Guardian in the realm of their Lion,” gasped Allura.

“As it should be,” said Alfor, “And the creation of Leakira solved our one-too-many-paladin-soul problem.”

“What’s the one-too-many-paladin-soul problem?” asked Pidge.

“Allura isn’t the only one we’re hoping to make a realm Guardian,” explained Alfor. “She’s simply the only one who is ready now. The current Paladins of Voltron will follow in our footsteps and become Guardians in their Lion’s realm.”

“And that would’ve been simple at the start,” said Trigel. “Shiro to the astral plane, Keith to memory, Lance to the After, and Hunk and Pidge to Dreams and Imagination.”

“But then you all started switching Lions,” said Gyrgan, “And Allura became a Paladin. We didn’t know where any of you belonged anymore.”

“Except for Hunk and Pidge,” said Trigel. “You’ve been solid in your role.”

“Thank you!” said Pidge. “No one ever acknowledges our steady, consistent work.”

“Yeah, we’re the rocks,” agreed Hunk.

“We’ve been working on this problem for awhile,” said Alfor. “Keith is flying Black, but it’s Shiro who has the strong connection with the astral plane.”

“And today’s battle proves Allura’s connection to the After,” said Blaytz.

“Hunk was a natural in Imagination,” said Grygan.

“And Dreams…,” began Trigel.

“Green one did fine,” said Bored with a shrug. “I had fun.”

“So we were the extras?” asked Lance. “So you forced us into the empty position.”

“On the contrary,” said Alfor. “You two made an incredible connection with Memory. I’ve never seen visions appear so vividly to any soul that’s visited my realm.”

“Hurray,” muttered Lance sarcastically.

“Yeah, that was horrific,” said Keith.

“The realm will be yours one day.”

“Pass,” said Keith.

“We really can’t have one of the nicer realms?” asked Lance. “What about the one that nearly murdered Hunk and Pidge with the Minosaur?”

“Medusotaur,” corrected Hunk. “Minosaur sounds like a miniature dinosaur.”

“Awesome. I can use that.” said Bored, looking satisfied. “You’re going to dream about mini dinosaurs later.”

“Memory can be a lovely place,” said Alfor. “For those at peace with themselves and their past.”

“That’s a lot to ask of anyone,” said Lance.

“You’re at peace now,” said Alfor spreading his arms out toward Lance and Keith. “You’re Leakira.”

“You keep saying that like it’s supposed to mean something to us,” complained Keith. “It’s just a nonsense word.”

“It’s the word your love made.”

“Aw,” said Lance and Adam.

“I hate you both,” said Keith, shooting them a dirty look.

“No,” disagreed Adam. “You love me and you looooooooove him.”

“Argh!” growled Keith. He turned away from everyone and stormed off.

“Keith?” said Tex as he passed him, but Keith ignored his dad too.

“Maybe you should talk to him,” Tex said to Lance, walking up to him.

“Naw, I think he just needs to cool down,” said Lance, but then he suddenly had that tugging feeling in his chest, compelling him to follow Keith and before he knew it his feet were moving. “Or maybe I go talk to him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this far! I appreciate you so much! This story is getting close to the end and we're not far off from season 8. I don't know what season 8 will bring, but I have a feeling I'm going to want to launch into writing another fic as soon as I've finished watching. Please subscribe to me so you're notified when I start the next fic!
> 
> Love,  
> Chilly xoxoxox


	41. The Thrust of Destiny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is dirty minded. It's time to say goodbye to those passed.

Chapter 41 - The Thrust of Destiny

Lance followed Keith who kept going and going until the vastness of the astral plane seemed to swallow them up, making anyone else in this place feel like a distant memory. Only then did Keith stop, staring off into the distance.

Lance wasn’t sure what to say. On one hand Keith had said he’s the happiest he’d ever been, but on the other hand he seemed to really hate having to share a soul now. And that felt a lot like Keith hating their eternal love soooo I dunno. Lance didn’t think Keith was about to snap and break up with him, but on the other hand, having Keith felt too good to be true.

“Hey,” said Lance, placing a hand on the Keith’s shoulder. He was about to follow up with the very original ‘are you okay?’ when Keith completely threw him off by spinning around, grabbing Lance by the shirt and kissing him.

The force of it was enough that Lance stumbled back a bit. Honestly, Keith must not known his own strength. Like he does not seem to get how buff and grizzled he is now. But then Keith seemed to steady Lance with those big strong arms and the kiss felt less like Keith was shoving Lance’s face with his face and morphed this wonderful caressing of the lips that made Lance’s whole body feel tinglely.

“Wow,” said Lance when Keith leaned out of the kiss. Lance found himself leaning in, trying to get right back into it, but Keith was already stepping back. “I was not expecting that.”

“Sorry,” said Keith, rubbing the back of his head, suddenly looking embarrassed. “I’ve been wanting a chance to do that again, but there’s so many people here. This is such a weird night.”

“I know!” agreed Lance. “I went to a wedding in my pajamas.”

“Right? Wait… That’s what you think was weird?” asked Keith.

“Among a lot of other things, but I mean when Shiro and Adam were exchanging vows, that’s when it hit me ‘I am not dressed appropriately for this.’”

“I still don’t understand why you’re wearing pajamas at all.”

“For the Séance.”

“That still doesn’t make sense!”

“Maybe not, but you were in my room and I couldn’t change in front of you,” said Lance with a blush.

“You’re really cute,” said Keith.

“Aw thanks. I was worried I was being a bit too much with the whole telling your dad I’m your lover and introducing you to my grandparents.”

“I liked all that. Well… not the lover thing, but I felt like you were proud of me or something…”

“Quiznak yeah I’m proud of you. So… this whole Le-Ikea thing…”

“Leakira,” corrected Keith.

“Is it freaking you out?”

“No.”

“Because I’m freaked out.”

“Yeah, me too!”

“You just said you weren’t,” snapped Lance.

“Well, I just didn’t want to be the one freaking out if you were totally cool with it.”

“I am freaking,” said Lance, “But also I think it’s kinda beautiful. All those Keith’s and Lance’s or whatever our names our in all those different realities, waking up to discover they’re in love with each other… Lucky them.”

“Even the straight ones?” asked Keith.

“I guess they’ll have to be in love in a non-sexual way, but yeah I do feel a bit bad for them. I mean, I’ve only been bi for what? An hour and it’s amazing. I get to attract boys and girls? Twice as many people to adore the Lancey Lance. My milkshakes bring errrrrrybody to the yard.”

“What about milkshakes?”

“Okay, that’s clueless even for you, Keith.”

Keith sighed, his eyes drifted up to the red and blue stars. “What about all the us’s out there that never met? Will they just never be happy?”

“What? No? We’re Lance and Keith! We always meet!”

“Bored said there were realities that split off from ours. Which were really close, but with small changes. Which means there’s a reality where my dad never dies in that fire and I never go into foster care and I never meet Shiro or go to the Garrison and I never meet you.”

Lance stared at the side of Keith’s head for a long time before saying, “Then I’ll just have to go find you.”

“You don’t have control over that, Lance. That’s my whole point. All these lives that are connected to our one shared soul, they’re on their own.”

“Are they though? I mean, we’re in our soul now, can’t we just send out a message? Will them together?”

“I don’t know,” said Keith. “I doubt it.”

Lance stepped up beside Keith and slid his hand into Keith’s, marveling how little touches like this sent sparks through his nervous system, and looked up at the same two stars. “Maybe we could try. Maybe we could just hold hands and look up at our stars and will all those other Keiths and Lances to find each other.”

Keith nodded. Lance concentrated on thinking about the other possibilities of himself and willing them to go find their Keiths. This lasted about thirty seconds before Lance had a thought and of course he had to say it out loud. “Do you think there’s a reality where we’re a couple of hot ladies and we like… do stuff together?”

“It’s likely,” said Keith. “But can you understand that as someone who is strictly gay, I’m not excited by that?”

“Right… right…”

Keith sighed deeply.

“Did I frustrate you with the hot lady us thing?”

“No, I just started thinking about how we’re supposed to eventually work with Alfor – who is kinda a jerk by the way – and become Memory Realm Guardians. It’s just… It feels like every five minutes I’m having some new destiny thrust upon me and I never ask for any of it!”

“But you asked for me, right? Aren’t I your destiny?”

“I guess…”

“And I intend to… thrust upon you.”

Keith turned beet red. “Too soon!” Keith hid his face in his hands.

“You’re so cute when you’re turned on.”

“I’m embarrassed, not turned on!” snapped Keith.

“You can be both,” argued Lance. “I’m always both…”

“Let’s rejoin the others,” said Keith.

“Wanna makeout a bit more first?” asked Lance, raising an eyebrow.

*******

They returned to the other’s ten minutes later. Allura was pacing back and forth looking up at the super bright light that Lance couldn’t look at directly.

“We were making out,” Lance said to Pidge. “What’d we miss?”  
“Don’t tell her that!” snapped Keith.

“Allura’s trying to figure out how to close up the hole she tore between the astral plane and the After and those two are still fight.” Pidge pointing about twenty feet off where Alfor and Melenor did seem to still be going at it.

“I should punish you for your insolence,” snapped Melenor. “I challenge you to a duel to the death!” Melenor raised her arms and seemed to get a couple sparks of power, but then they fizzled out. “… To be held once I have replenished my powers from my last battle to the death. Give me ten thousand years and then you will be sorry!”

“I don’t understand why you think I have to obey you,” bemoaned Alfor.

“I was the leader of Voltron! Your Leader!”

“For about three vargas, my dear, and then you well… Zarkon murdered you.”

“Don’t be so smug. He murdered you too.”

“But I least I battled him for deca-phoebs before he finally accomplished the task. He killed you so fast.”

“Are seriously mocking my death, Alfor?!” asked Melenor, offened

“C’mon, Melenor. After ten thousand years, can’t we finally laugh about it?”

“It is still too soon!”

Lance nudged Keith with his elbow. “Relationship goals, amirite?”

“What are you talking about? They’re awful together.”

“And I was joking.”

“Eh,” said Bored, popping into the conversation. “They’re not soul mates so…”

“So soul mates are real?” asked Keith.

Bored glared at him, or rather the space between Keith and Lance. “Are you seriously asking me that question? Look at you two. You soul mated yourself into one soul.”

“Does everyone get a soul mate?” asked Pidge, looking sheepish which was out of character for her.

“I don’t know,” said Bored. “I don’t have one.”

“Maybe you do,” said Pidge. “Maybe you haven’t met them or only met them recently.”

“Why are you looking at her that way?” Keith asked Pidge.

“What way?” asked Bored. “What’s her face doing?” Bored squinted at Pidge.

“I think Hunk is calling me,” said Pidge, darting off.

“I think Pidge has a crush on you,” said Lance. “Either that or she has to poop. They are very similar expressions.”

“That’s dumb,” said Bored.

“Pooping or the crush.”

“Both. I’m not capable of either. Plus I nearly let her die.”

“There’s a lot of that going around,” said Lance. “You sure you can’t have a crush?”

“I’m unsure. What’s it feel like?”

“Great,” said Lance at the same time Keith said, “Awful.”

They looked at each other then Lance said, “Awful” at the same time Keith said, “Great.”

“That’s vague,” said Bored. “You’re useless, Leakira.” Then she popped out of existence again.

“I think I’ve got it,” said Allura, clapping her hands together. “I can close it up, the only issue is everyone who belongs in the After needs to go to that side.”

“Keith,” said Tex, coming up behind Keith and tapping him on the shoulder.

“I can’t believe I have to say goodbye so soon,” said Keith. He hugged his dad. “I’m so glad I got to see you.”

“Me too,” said Tex. “Say hi to your mom for me.”

“I will.”

Tex went and shook Lance’s hand. “You look out for my boy, ya hear?”

“Yes, sir dad sir. I mean Tex… Sorry.”

**********

Lance went to say goodbye to his grandparents as Shiro said goodbye to his own parents.

“I don’t feel like I can say sorry enough,” said his mom as he hugged her goodbye.

“It’s okay,” said Shiro. “I forgive you.”

“I love you, Taka-kun. I’m so proud of the person you are.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll take care of them,” said Adam, he was holding onto Shiro’s dad’s arm like their were a couple of gals heading out on the town.

“Tell me I don’t have to say goodbye to you,” said Shiro, feeling the tears well up in his eyes.

“Mom, dad, can we have a minute?” Adam asked Shiro’s parents. They nodded, waving goodbye to Shiro.

“You’re calling them mom and dad now?”

“Yes, they’re mine now and they love me more.”

“Adam…” Shiro said with a laugh then he got sad again. “I don’t know how to say goodbye to you.”

“I’m sure anything you can think of will be better than last time.”

“How did I say it last time?”

“With me waking up to an empty bed,” said Adam.

“Oh.”

“Uh huh. You did that.”

“I should’ve left a note.”

“… That’s your regret? That you didn’t leave a note? Not that you didn’t wake me up and say goodbye properly? Not that you didn’t just stay with me and never said goodbye?”

Shiro looked down at the ground. He reached out and took Adam’s hand. “Can I stay now and never say goodbye.”

“Takashi… no…”

“I don’t wanna leave you again,” he admitted.

“You have so much work to on Earth and dear lord do not put the burden of convincing you to go on me someone else do it MEL!” Adam snapped his fingers several times until Melenor came sweeping over.

“What? What is it?” she asked, still irritated from fighting with Alfor.

“Shiro’s forcing me to convince him to leave.”

“Of course he should leave. Don’t be ridiculous. You’re the Captain of the Atlas now, a mecha robot ship powered by your Alteam arm and alchemy quintessence.”

“My what?” gasped Shiro.

“I do not feel like explaining it all over again. Ask Allura when you’re back in your bodies. You,” she said to Adam. “I’ve done my part for you. You need to go back to the After.”

“I know, but…,” said Adam, suddenly getting sheepish. “Look… I know I’m not ‘Guardian worthy’ or anything, but do you think I could still come back to the astral plane now and then and hangout with you?”

“Adam,” said Melenor. “I am an ancient omniscient being ruling over an empty realm larger than the universe itself.” Melenor sighed. “Of course I want you to come back and keep me company. I am bored all the time. Yes please. Come back anytime.”

“Aw Mel!” said Adam, hugging her. “I knew you were my new Ride or Die B*tch.”

“Okay,” said Shiro. “I’ll go.”

“Of course you are going,” said Melenor, walking away. 

Shiro took his husband into his arms. “Adam… I’m –”

“I swear to god, Takashi, if you apologize to me one more time, I’m coming back as a ghost and Imma murder you. At some point you need to accept that I’ve forgiven you and move on. Seriously. I can’t be at peace if I’m still hurt and I’m not. Just please stop being sorry.”

“Sorry,” sputtered Shiro.

“I warned you,” said Adam, sticking a finger in Shiro’s face, but then he dropped the angry act and kissed him.

“I’m so glad you harassed multiple realm Guardians so you could call me here,” said Shiro.

“Yep. You’re not the only special one who does cool stuff.”

“I never thought that,” said Shiro. “You’ve always been the amazing one to me.”

“Adam, are you ready?” asked Allura approaching. Adam and Shiro looked at each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this far! I appreciate you so much! This story is getting close to the end and we're not far off from season 8. I don't know what season 8 will bring, but I have a feeling I'm going to want to launch into writing another fic as soon as I've finished watching. Please subscribe to me so you're notified when I start the next fic!
> 
> Love,  
> Chilly xoxoxox


	42. Pinch Me, I'm Dreaming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to face the journey home.

Chapter 42 - Pinch Me, I'm Dreaming

“Adam!” yelled Veronica tearing through the kitchen of their shared apartment. Garrison apartments are meant to house two people and since Adam found himself in need of roommate when Veronica had just graduated it seemed like a natural fit. That and Veronica said if she was assigned to live with one of her “lizard-brained classmates” she would quit the Garrison and go to flight attendant school. Obviously Adam couldn’t let one of their best and brightest get away so Veronica moved in with him. “I can’t find my glasses! Tell me you’re not wearing them again!”

“I guess that’s why everything is slightly blurry,” said Adam, coming out of his bedroom and pulling Veronica’s glasses off his face.

“That didn’t clue you in?”

“I thought I was just that hung over,” said Adam. The Kerberos mission had successfully landed the night before and the two of them had had a celebratory toast which was more or less a ‘screw you for choosing a moon over me’ party. “So where are my glasses?”

“Freezer,” suggested Veronica, accepting her own back.

“Freezer?”

“Vodka,” said Veronica inspecting her lenses for smudges.

“Ah,” said Adam, heading to the freezer. He had a tendency to take off his glasses while mixing drinks. He opened the freezer. “Bingo!”

Veronica put on her glasses and relaxed, able to see again. She looked down at the counter and noticed some papers. “Oh, what’s this?” she asked, picking them up to inspect them. “Adoption papers? Addy, are you finally going to adopt me?” 

“Those are for Keith,” said Adam. His glasses were all fogged up from the temperature change so he took them back off to rub them on his Garrison issued shirt.

“Keith’s adopting me?”

“I’m applying to adopt Keith,” said Adam. “Takashi and I applied when we were engaged, but had to withdraw when we broke up. Then Takashi tried solo, but between being terminally ill and never being on-planet they rejected him. So now I’m giving it the old college try.”

“Wanna put my name on it too?” asked Veronica. “Give it a heterosexual couple edge?”

“Thanks,” said Adam, snatching the papers away. “But I’m not looking for a sham relationship… Though ask me again when I’m thirty and still single.”

“Hey, so isn’t Keith going to be seventeen on October 23rd?” asked Veronica.

“Yes, but… Wait… why do you know Keith’s birthday?”

“Because Lance knows it and he talks constantly about Keith so my brain is filled with useless Keith facts.”

“Aw, so my ship is doing well,” said Adam with a soft smile.

“No, they’re rivals. Lance’s stalker behaviour is a know-your-enemies kind of deal.”

“Ummmm I think you’re interpreting that wrong.”

“Ummmm no, I think you’re interpreting it with a gay-lens.”

“I don’t think your lens is gay enough,” countered Adam.

“You don’t know my lens’s sexuality.”

Adam was speechless. He really didn’t know what Roni’s attractions were, if any. She hadn’t shared any such info. He was the one who was the Tell All Book. “Excuse my heteronormative assumption,” said Adam. “That’s a first for me.”

“I’ll give you one pass,” said Veronica. “So why adopt Keith when he’s seventeen? He’s nearly all grown. What’s the point?”

How to explain this? “You know how in a sports ball game, -?”

“Sports ball game?”

“Yeah, like the one where the men wear the short shorts… basketball!”

“Wow. Just wow,” said Veronica, shaking her head.

“You know how in basketball when your team has been losing all game, but then right before the end –”

“The Buzzer.”

“Your teams makes a goal –”

“Basket.”

“Basket – thank you – winning the game. Yeah, it would’ve been nice if you’d been winning for the whole game, it would’ve provided a sense of security while you watched, but when it’s over you still get to walk away knowing you won. Doesn’t matter that it was the last minute. Doesn’t matter that it’s over. You won. Understand?”

“Yeah,” said Veronica with a nod. “I understand that you’ve never watched basketball in your life.”

“That’s not true. I have. I just only paid attention to the shorts.”

*******

“Adam, are you ready?” asked Allura. It was time he joined the other dearly departed in the After so she could seal up the hole between realms.

“Trick question,” said Shiro, answering for him. “There’s no way to be ready to say goodbye right after we got married.”

“It’s a three pointer at the buzzer,” said Adam. “We won the game even if the season’s over.”

“Adam,” said Shiro, surprised. “You made a basketball reference. You went to how many of my pick up games without being able to call it anything other than sports ball?”

“That’s because I was only paying attention to how your butt looked in those tiny shorts.” 

Shiro laughed.

“That reminds me. I need to say a proper goodbye.” Adam stepped behind Shiro and squatted down to look directly at his butt. “Goodbye cutie.”

“Adam,” gasped Shiro, embarrassed.

“When I make you tense, it only gets cuter. How did Bored take one of those mental pictures?” Adam used his pointed fingers to frame Shiro’s butt. “Like this?” He lowered his hands, keeping the frame in tact and looked at it. “O-M-G it worked!”

Allura, of course, was watching all this with confusion. “Is this a human mating ritual?” she asked.

“No, it’s Adam being stupid,” said Shiro, pulling his husband back to standing. “We just need another dobosh, Princess…er… your majesty.”

“Sixty ticks, I’m counting,” warned Allura.

Adam wrapped his arms around Shiro and they held each other. “I wish I could think of something meaningful to say,” said Shiro.

“You gave my life meaning,” said Adam.

“Yes! You gave my life meaning.”

“No,” said Adam. “That’s what I’m saying to you. You have to come up with your own thing.”

Shiro chuckled and squeezed Adam tighter with his left arm. “Aw. I love you.”

“That’s perfect,” said Adam. 

Adam brushed his thumb against Shiro’s cheekbone, sending shivers down his husband’s spine. Adam kissed him, teasingly dragging his bottom lip over Shiro’s own, reminding Shiro that this feeling was better than any he’d ever known. Better than vanilla bean ice cream or graduating top of his class. Better than space launches or forming Voltron or punching Sendak or even being a Paladin. This was his number one favourite thing in the universe and it was the last time he’d get to experience it in this life.

That’s probably why when Allura came to remind them their time was up, Shiro just kept kissing Adam. And why he forgot his all manner of self-discipline and ran his hand through Adam’s hair. And why he ignored that little voice in his head that said, ‘watching men kiss makes people uncomfortable so only do it in private.’ And also probably why when Adam grabbed his butt it only made Shiro want to keep going. And definitely why it took Lance loudly declaring, “I’ll have what he’s having!” to finally kill the mood, causing Adam and Shiro to break apart, sputtering with laughter just in time to see Keith give Lance the most jealous look Shiro had ever seen.

“What?” asked Lance in response to that look. “I meant what they were doing, not them themselves.”

Keith rolled his eyes.

“Whatever,” said Lance. “You were into it.”

“Those are like, my adoptive parents.”

“Hot daddies,” snickered Lance. “What?” Keith groaned and walked away. “Well, excuse me for embracing our culture!”

While Shiro was watching those two Adam leaned in and whispered, “Think about that kiss when you’re alone later.” Shiro swallowed hard. Adam’s hands slipped into his, their wedding rings clicking against each other. “I Love you, Takashi.” Shiro very nearly moaned at the sound of his name because saying it was honestly the most erotic thing Adam could do.

“I love you, Adam,” said Shiro, leaning in to brush his lips across Adam’s one last time. Adam’s fingertips caressed his palm as his hand slipped away. 

Shiro tried to memorize Adam as he watched him walk away – the angle of his shoulders, the curl of his hair, the glint of the light off the lenses of his glasses – taking his own mental image without the cheesy finger frame. But really the essence of Adam wasn’t a look, it was a feeling. No… a myriad of feelings. He was desire and laughter and joy and ecstasy and belonging and devastation. He was a lifetime of experience and the experience of a lifetime. 

Shiro could sum that up with one word.

A name:

Husband.

Adam took his place in that blinding light, his outline only visible if Shiro squinted. Thousands of Alteans had moved back into that light, disappearing into the brilliance. Keith came to stand beside Shiro as they shielded their eyes with their hands, still looking to where Adam’s outline stood.

“Here we go,” said Allura, stepping in front of the Paladins of Old and New to stand between them and the light of the After. She shook out her hands, a golden light dancing at her fingers. She took a deep breath, her arms ready at her sides. Allura blew it out and swept her arms up and clapped her hands together above her head. The clap rang out as the light snapped off. The noise echoed through the vast empty space of the astral plane.

“There we are,” said Allura, turning back to the group, shaking a bit of leftover magic off her fingers.

Everyone was too stunned to react. Finally Blaytz said, “I thought that would be much harder.”

“Really?” asked Allura, casually glancing over her shoulder at where the hole to the After was only seconds ago. She shrugged.

“Allura!” cried Melenor, delight filling her voice. “That’s my daughter!”

“She gets it from me,” said Alfor.

“You best be joking,” shot Melenor.

“Her modesty,” said Alfor. “Obviously her power comes from you.”

“Thank you,” said Melenor, but then added. “You’re far from forgiven though.”

“Worth a shot.”

“Now,” said Melenor, turning to the Paladins. “Let’s send you home.”

“Let me guess,” groaned Lance. “We need to do some kind of worthiness test to return. Maybe face consequences for every pain we’ve ever caused anyone, get chased by a group of flesh-eating Minosaurs, and then hyper-merge into one entity made out of all six of us?”

“Actually the method of return from the astral plane is quite simple.”

“But there’s a catch?”

“The only thing you must do is wake up.” The last two words made Shiro feel dizzy, like he was drifting off to sleep, but suddenly he refocused and was still standing there in the astral plane. He looked around and saw everyone looked as dazed.

“Oh, let me do it!” said Bored, popping into the center of the group. “I am literally a Dream Guardian, this task was meant for me.”

“You’re not a full fledged Dream Guardian,” corrected Trigel, which was news to everyone present.

“Fine. Assistant Dream Guardian.”

“Assistant *to* the Dream Guardian,” said Trigel.

Bored rolled her eyes.

“Go on,” said Melenor. Allura turned to her mother and hugged her goodbye then did the same to her father.

“Gather round, sleepy heads,” said Bored. The Paladins made a circle around her. “This might hurt a bit.”

“Might hurt how?” asked Hunk. “Ow!” Bored pinched him on the arm and then in a blink Hunk was gone. Though… if Shiro looked with his peripheral vision he could almost see a shimmery something-or-other where Hunk once stood.

Bored turned to Pidge next who turned bright red in the face and seemed to open her mouth to say something, but Bored was already pinching her and then she was gone.

Next Bored turned to Keith and Lance. She fluttered her eyes while looking between them. “Move in,” she directed. “I have to do you together.”

“That’s what she said,” said Lance, shuffling over and pressing his shoulder against Keith’s.

“That is what she said,” said Keith.

“Oh babe,” groaned Lance. But then Bored reached to their outside shoulders and pinched and they were gone.

Allura and Shiro were left. “Thank you,” Shiro said to Allura. “And to all of you,” he said, looking around at the Guardians. Although he wasn’t sure if he was actually grateful to Alfor…

“You’re welcome, Shiro,” said Allura, taking his hand and Shiro felt warm. He didn’t have Adam’s hand to hold anymore, but he had some truly amazing people in his life.

“Two for one,” said Bored, cracking her knuckles. “Let’s do this.” Then she reached out and pinched Shiro and Allura at the same time. Shiro felt the sharp pain of the pinch and then he woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this far! I appreciate you so much! This story is getting close to the end and we're not far off from season 8. I don't know what season 8 will bring, but I have a feeling I'm going to want to launch into writing another fic as soon as I've finished watching. Please subscribe to me so you're notified when I start the next fic!
> 
> Love,  
> Chilly xoxoxox


	43. Cue the Chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Paladins return to their bodies, but their bodies aren't how they left them.

Chapter 43 – Cue the Chaos

Allura’s eyes snapped open. It was jarring to suddenly be back in her body and also to not be able to see soul’s anymore, which was her first clue that she was definitely back on planet Earth. That and she was looking around the Paladins in their original seated circle, but everyone seemed at the very least mildy upset and at the most totally freaking out. Also her hand was wet.

Allura released her grip on Shiro’s hand and yanked her hand out of the bucket of water sitting between them (which she did not remember being there before.)

“Why is my hand in water,” gasped Shiro, pulling his own hand out. “Who puts a mechanical hand in water? It could rust or worse! Short out!”

“Keith, your hair! Keith, your hair!” yelled Lance. Allura looked and saw Lance pointing at Keith’s head.

“What?” asked Keith, reaching up instinctively to touch his mullet and finding nothing there. “Wha-?” He went from confused to panicked in three ticks. “Where’s my hair?” Keith was completely bald.

“We woke up in the wrong reality!” cried Lance, grabbing hold of Keith’s head and shaking him.

“No, someone shaved my head while we weren’t in our bodies!” yelled Keith.

“Who would do such a thing to your beautiful mull – wait…,” said Lance, suddenly calm. He pulled at Keith’s scalp and Allura looked on in confusion as Lance seemed to pull a layer of Keith’s skin from his head and then out bounced his hair from underneath.

“What did you do?” cried Keith in horror, looking at the rubbery scalp Lance was holding.

“No, no! It’s a bald cap! Someone put a bald cap on you!” What the quiznak is a bald cap?

“It’s a bald cap,” said Keith, his cries turning from horror to relief.

Lance was running his hands through Keith’s hair, seeming to luxuriate in it and suddenly Allura had to blush and look away.

She turned to Pidge, who was clutching at her chest like she was in immense pain. “Pidge, are you okay?” gasped Allura.

“What’s wrong?” asked Hunk, putting his hand on Pidge’s shoulder and smearing something fluffy and white there. “What? What is this?” asked Hunk, distracted by the gunk on his hands. “Whipped cream?” He tasted it quickly stuck out his tongue “Nope, shaving cream. Someone put dollops of shaving cream in my hands presumably thinking I would mistake it for whipped cream and eat it.”

“Why would you eat random whipped cream you found in your hands?” asked Shiro.

“Pidge?” repeated Allura, looking at the smallest Paladin. Pidge’s teeth were clenched so hard and her eyes squeezed so tight, she must’ve been in immense pain.

“So… cold,” cried Pidge, clutching her arms across her chest. Then her eyes popped open, filled with fire. “I’m going to kill Matt!”

“Matt?” questioned Allura. “What’s Matt got to do with this?”

“Get out here, Matt!” screamed Pidge, “I know you’re behind this!”

“Behind what?” asked Allura, she still didn’t understand what was going on.

But then she heard an eruption of giggles come from behind her. She looked over her shoulder and saw a group of people peeking out from behind the Black Lion’s legs.

“Prepare to die,” growled Pidge, launching herself up onto her feet. She didn’t even make it a single step before she tripped and face planted in the middle of the circle.

“Pidge!” yelled all the Paladins at once, scrambling to help their friend out. Allura jumped to her feet and immediately tripped and fell beside Pidge. Her feet! Her feet were stuck somehow!

Before Allura could even turn over to investigate, she felt the weight of Shiro drop on top of her.

“Ugh!” he cried. “I am so sorry, Princess, er… your majesty… Ugh!”

“Ah!” Allura cried as the weight on top of her doubled. There were limbs everywhere as it seemed all of them had fallen and none of them could get up.

“Get off!” yelled Keith.

“I’m trying!” snapped Lance.

“My feet are caught in something!” yelled Hunk.

And during that time Allura became aware of the uproarious laughter happening behind her. When Shiro got off, she flipped over and looked at her feet. They were tied up and worse yet the rope led to both Shiro and Lance’s legs. In fact, all their feet had been tied together then to each other.

“We’re tied together,” she said. “Everyone we need to break free.” The Paladins were rolling around, trying to reach their feet. 

Allura looked up at the laughing as she tried to untangle herself and saw Matt of course, but also Romelle, Coran, Krolia, and Veronica?

“Behold,” announced Matt, “The mighty Paladins of Voltron.”

“Defeated by a rope,” laughed Romelle.

Then something dawned on Allura as she looked at the five perpetrators of the rope prank. “What are you wearing?” gasped Allura.

“You like?” asked Veronica, striking a pose and sweeping her hand across her body.

“Wait… are you?” asked Hunk.

“Our Paladin suits!” cried Lance.

“Well you all were out of commission,” said Romelle. “What if you never woke up and the Universe needed defending?”

“It was precautionary,” said Coran, seeming a little embarrassed.

“Mom!” snapped Keith in a tone that said ‘I expected this from everyone else, but you should know better.’

But of course Krolia was complicit and wearing the Red Paladin armor. In response to her son’s disappointed tone she folded her arms, popped out her hip and said, “I’m the Red Lion’s Paladin. I have a chip on my shoulder and don’t wanna be the leader.”

“That’s you!” said Lance excitedly, pointing at Keith.

“Yeah, I got that,” said Keith.

“And I’m Blue’s Paladin,” said Veronica, dressed in the blue armor. She clasped her hands, kicked up her heel and fluttered her eyelashes as she said, “I’m loud and annoying and only talk about girls.”

“She’s acting on old information,” Lance whispered to Keith.

“She got the loud and annoying right,” said Keith.

“Hey!” yelled Lance. Then he growled at his sister, “Why are you even here?”

“Because they needed a fifth Paladin so they woke me up,” said Veronica, grinning.

Matt was dressed in the green armor. “I like science and my gender is ambiguous.”

“Hey!” shouted Pidge, “That’s accurate!”

Keith and Lance seemed to both be looking at Matt with stunned looks. Hunk leaned over and said, “Geez why don’t the two of you just get a room with Matt already?”

“Shut up!” they both yelled in unison, deliberately turning their heads to look away from Matt who was flexing despite the fact that it wasn’t in character for Pidge.

“Matt, you jerk!” yelled Pidge, “You’re stretching it out!”

“Not to worry, number five,” said Coran. He was wearing the yellow armor. “The armor shrinks to fit. Just run in through a hot wash and dry it.” His did not look like it fit. In fact his belt was sliding down his thin hips. “Of course I did not have time to do that...”

“Hey, do me,” said Hunk, encouraging Coran. Hunk had stopped trying to untie his own feet and was just enjoying the show at this point.

“I’m the Yellow Paladin,” said Coran. “I am a master cook and an all over good guy who people enjoy being around.”

“Aw. Thank you,” said Hunk.

“Together, we’re Team Voltron!” said Veronica, all peppy. 

The four of them posed with Matt and Veronica crouching in a lunge and Coran and Krolia posing behind them.

“And I’ll form…,” began Romelle, coming up behind them. It took her a couple tries, but she managed to get herself kneeling on Coran and Krolia’s shoulders, cheerleader style. “…The head!” They paused for dramatic effect.

The real Paladins just scowled.

“Romelle, you are wearing my armor,” said Allura. “The Paladin in the pink armor does not fly the Black Lion.”

“Not with that attitude she doesn’t,” said Romelle. 

“More than half of your armor doesn’t match your Lions anyway,” added Veronica.

“She’s got us there,” said Hunk.

“Besides, there is no Black Paladin armor,” said Coran. “It was lost when the real Shiro’s body died and disappeared.”

“Sitting right here,” deadpanned Shiro, still working at untying the knots in the ropes on his feet.

“And I like pink,” said Romelle, hugging her body. “It’s dark like my soul.”

“Pink is the new black,” said Lance. “Altean goth. It’s a thing. Look it up.”

“Doesn’t quite hold up to Mel B though, does she?” said Shiro.

“Scary Spice?” questioned Veronica.

“Who?” asked Romelle. But in that moment Pidge finally broke free of her ropes and came charging at the group of Paladin imposters. She rammed into her brother who fell back and hit Krolia who dropped Romelle and seconds later everyone was in a heap just like the real Paladins had been a few minutes earlier. Only this time Pidge was on top and smacking her brother.

The real Paladins began laughing. Sometimes karma acted quickly.

“I’ll help you, Pidge!” said Lance, breaking free of his foot bindings. “You’re going down, Veronica!” Lance jumped up and took off at a run, kicking over a candle as he did so.

“Fire! Fire! Fire!” cried Keith as the candle rolled towards him and caught on the ropes.

“Damn!” swore Shiro, kicking off his ropes and going to stomp on the fire creeping towards Keith’s feet.

“There’s water right here!” said Hunk, grabbing the bucket from beside Allura and tossing it onto the ropes, distinguishing the fire.

“That almost caught on my pant leg,” complained Keith.

Allura finally got the last knot undone and stood up. “Everyone settle down!” she demanded and to her surprise, everyone did.

“Princess,” said Coran, staring at her. “Is that… are you wearing your mother’s ceremonial crown? But that would mean…” Coran dropped to his knee. “Your majesty.”

Romelle looked between Coran and Allura, confused and then dropped down to her knee herself.

“Should I kneel too?” asked Veronica, she had her brother by the collar, as they’d been mid-roughhouse.

“Whoa, Allura,” said Lance. “You still have the crown.”

Now everyone was staring at Allura. She reached up, doubting what she’d been told, but there it was. She took off the crown to examine it. 

“I thought it was just a manifestation,” said Pidge. She had her brother in a headlock.

“The jewels,” said Allura, looking at the sparkling gems on the crown. “My mother said my father had replaced all the crown jewels with ones he’d made from the trans-reality comet.”

“So the crown can travel through realities,” said Pidge, loosening her grip on Matt.

“How’d it end up in the astral plane?” asked Shiro.

“I do not know,” said Allura. “But this is Altea’s real crown. I brought it back.”

“Did you say you saw your mother?” asked Coran, stunned. “What happened?”

“That’s a bit of a long story,” said Shiro. “Maybe we should head inside before we tell it.”

With that, the excitement seemed to be over as everyone started to head towards the Garrison. Pidge released her brother and gave him one last punch on the arm. “That’s for the pranks.”

“Glad you guys didn’t prank me,” said Lance, confidently.

“Except for those scribbles on your face,” said Allura.

“What?” gasped Lance. “What’s on my face?”

“Oh, those aren’t scribbles,” said Veronica, proudly.

“Nope,” said Hunk, looking at them. “Those are well uhhh… private parts.”

“Dongs?” asked Lance. “Did you draw dongs on my face?”

“Just the one,” said Veronica, “And then also…”

“It’s the male and female genitals,” said Hunk pointing to one cheek and then the other. 

Pidge shook her head. “Not accurate.”

Allura was confused. “You have specific genitals for each gender? It isn’t just… randomized?”

“Yes,” hissed Pidge. “I love Alteans.”

“I love them too,” agreed Shiro. “They get it.”

“They totally get it!”

“I don’t get what they’re getting,” said Lance, “But I need to wash my face.”

Coran went ahead and opened up the door, holding it for everyone. 

“It’s so weird being back here,” said Lance. “It’s almost like everything that happened was just a dream.”

Keith gave Lance as disappointed look which prompted Lance to grab hold of his hand and say, “But it wasn’t a dream and it did happen and it’s going to happen more later in my bedroom.”

“Lance,” said Allura, getting his attention. “A word?”

“Be right in,” Lance said to Keith, releasing his hand. Keith followed the rest in and soon the door shut leaving Allura and Lance alone for the first time since… Well, before the battle with Lotor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm going to write a fic about Adonica aka Adam and Veronica's friendship/adventures as roommates, but this time rated mature. If you're interested subscribe so you don't miss it!
> 
> Love,  
> Chilly xoxoxox


	44. Bi-Panic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Allura have a heart to heart. The Paladians catch up their friends on the adventure they missed out on.

Chapter 44 – Bi-Panic

“Lance, a word?”

“Be right in,” he told Keith and watched him go inside.

When the door closed and Lance was suddenly alone with Allura, he remembered to be nervous. Up until earlier tonight he’d thought him and Allura were heading towards dating and hadn’t really known why that made him so scared and now he knew it was because he was harbouring feelings for Keith. But now he kinda needed to say that to Allura, right? It was the right thing to do, right?

“I’ve been hoping to speak to you,” said Allura. Oh no, was that fancy-Altean speak for ‘we need to talk.’

“I need to talk to you too,” said Lance. “Allura, I do have feelings for you, I do, b-.”

“I have feelings for you too, Lance,” said Allura, cutting him off. 

Oh no. Oh nononono! Why was she saying this? Hadn’t she seen him holding hands with Keith and calling him babe and well, soul-merging with him? Maybe Lance hadn’t outright said they were together yet, but it was obvious, right? The writing was on the wall, right?

“Strong feelings,” added Allura.

Oh no! Lance couldn’t bring himself to stop her. It was happening! He was bi-panicking! He wasn’t going to be able to reject her. He wasn’t even going to be able to disagree with her. He’d probably nod along and agree to date her and then he’d be dating both Keith and Allura at the same time and he wasn’t an expert in what it meant to be bisexual, but he was fairly certain dating a boy and a girl at the same time wasn’t what it meant!

“Feelings…,” continued Allura, “Of friendship.”

Lance blew out a breath he hadn’t know he’d been holding.

“When I was younger,” Allura continued, “the only friendships I saw modeled by my parents were comrades in battle. I never thought I’d have a friend who I was close to, who I was able to share my feelings with. I just wanted to say I’m grateful.”

“Thanks, Allura,” said Lance, truly touched. “I feel the same way.”

“Keith is a lucky man,” said Allura sounding a bit awkward yet sincere nonetheless.

“Do you mind telling him that?” asked Lance. “Because ever since this whole soul-merge thing he’s been looking grumpy.”

“Is he though? Or is that just his face.”

“Maybe,” Lance laughed. Then they both ran out of things to say and it felt just a little bit awkward. “So…” Lance held up out his pinky finger. “Besties?”

Allura stared at the finger, confused. “I do not understand.” 

“It’s a good thing. I promise.” Lance took her hand and helped her stick out her pinky and hook it with his. 

“Alright then,” said Allura, looking at their hooked pinkies. “Beasties!”

“Besties,” corrected Lance.

“Besties,” echoed Allura.

********

Allura and Lance found the others in the Garrison cafeteria, gathered at a table. Hunk had put together a little late night snack. 

“Warm milk?” offered Hunk, greeting them with mugs.

“No thank you,” said Allura, waving it off.

Lance scanned the table for Keith. When Lance spotted that mullet, it’s like his legs sped up without being told. He was amazed at how excited he was to see Keith after only a few minutes apart. Then Keith turned and saw Lance and his face broke out in the biggest smile Lance had ever seen on emo boy’s face. Lance was wearing its twin. Lance wasn’t thinking straight or maybe he really didn’t care, but he walked right up to that boy, tilted his head back, and planted one on him.

Cue: gagging noises from Pidge.

When Lance pulled back from the kiss he saw that Keith looked very embarrassed. Well, he shouldn’t be! Everyone else was just going to have to get used to their PDA and Lance was prepared right then and there to make it clear.

“Listen up, haters!” he sassed, turning on the rest of the table. “Keith and I are in love and we don’t care if you have a problem with that!” He stared around the table, just daring anyone to look disgusted.

“We know and we don’t,” said Matt, tentatively.

“I always thought you two were a couple,” said Romelle.

“Wait,” said Coran, confused and pointing. “We were supposed to believe you two weren’t together?”

“Mom?” said Keith, looking to Krolia.

“I saw a time flash of your future wedding,” said Krolia with a shrug.

“WHAT?!” gasped Lance.

“What? When?” sputtered Keith.

“You may have been sleeping,” said Krolia, casually sipping something from her mug.

“So nobody is the least bit surprised that I’m with Keith?” bellowed Lance.

“Uh-uh-uh…” came Veronica’s weak voice. Lance turned to see his sister had stood up from her seat and was leaning over the table with her jaw hanging open. “What?! You’re with Keith?!! But you… I thought… You’re the token straight!”

“Nope! I’m bi bi bi,” he said while doing a little dancey wave.

“Wow,” muttered Veronica. “Addy was psychic."

“So we were just catching everyone up on our journey,” said Shiro, gesturing for Lance and Allura to sit down.

“Oh, so we’re just totally done talking about Keith and I?” asked Lance. Lance went to sit on his boyfriend’s lap, who shoved him right back off. Lance took his own seat. “Do you want to hear how we got together? So Keith was like, ‘no homo’ and I was like, ‘yes homo’ and then –”

“That is not what happened!” snapped Keith. “Stop telling people I said that!”

Coran cleared his throat and looked at Allura. “So I hear you saw King Alfor…without me…”

“And your dad,” said Krolia, looking at Keith. “Without me.”

“And Adam,” said Veronica. “Without me.”

“Why would you care?” asked Lance.

“Seriously?” snapped Veronica. “Adam and I were roommates!”

“When?” asked Lance.

“After Shiro left for Kerberos,” said Keith. “I knew that.”

“What?” gasped Lance, looking at Keith. “You remember my sister from that time, but you didn’t remember me?”

“Maybe I’m bad with faces,” said Keith. “Ever think of that?”

“My face is beautiful,” said Lance. “You should have my face memorized.”

“Well, I agree and I do now!” snapped Keith.

“From the makers of Rivals Lance and Keith,” said Pidge in a movie trailer voice, “comes Boyfriends Lance and Keith. If you liked the original, you’ll love Boyfriends as it’s pretty much the exact same relationship, but this time with PDA.”

“So how was Adam?” asked Veronica, turning to Shiro. “You two make up?”

“We did more than that,” said Shiro, talking into his mug. “We… we got married.”

Veronica gasped. “Get out!”

“Shiro,” said Allura, “Your ring?”

Shiro held up his left hand. It was bare. “Yeah, it didn’t survive the trip back from the astral plane. It really was just a manifestation.”

“Wait,” said Keith. He stuck his hand inside the breast pocket of his red jacket and fished around. A moment later he pulled out a wedding ring, which didn’t look anything like the diamond ring Lance had seen in the astral plane.

“You kept it,” gasped Shiro, reaching out his hand.

“I forgot about it,” said Keith, honestly. He dropped the ring into Shiro’s hand.

“Dude,” said Lance, “Clean out your pockets.”

Shiro slid it on his finger, looking a bit stunned.

“Aw,” said Veronica. “I can’t believe I missed your wedding. I was Addy’s Ride or Die B*tch.”

“He’s got a new one,” said Pidge then she nodded at Allura. “Allura’s mom.”

“What?” hissed Veronica. “Well, two can play at that game. Keith’s mom,” she pointed at Krolia, “want to be my new Ride or Die B*tch?”

“Sure,” said Krolia. “Who are we killing? What’s the mission?”

“No, it’s not a hit job. It’s a state of mind.”

“It means BFF,” said Lance. “Best friends forever.”

“That’s quite a commitment,” said Krolia, considering this. “Can I get back to you?”

“Yeah, sleep on it,” said Veronica then she whispered to Romelle, “You’re my backup.” Then she pointed at Coran. “And you’re my safety.”

“I think we should all sleep on it,” said Shiro, standing up. 

“Aw, dad, c’mon!” whined Pidge. “Just ten more minutes!”

“No, I mean it,” said Shiro, leaning into the dad role. “It’s been a long night.”

“Wedding, coronation, soul-merging…,” said Lance, counting the events off on his fingers. “What else?”

“Near death,” added Keith.

“Right. Near death all around.”

“I’m so disappointed I missed it,” said Coran, getting up.

“Next time show up to my parties on time,” said Lance as they all walked towards the door.

Hunk yawned, “I could sleep for a week.”

“Didn’t we technically already sleep?” asked Keith.

“Well, I’m staying up,” said Pidge.

“Ohhh, but if you go to sleep you might see Bored again,” teased Hunk.

“Shut up or die,” said Pidge with a blush.

“Who or what is Bored?” asked Matt as they filed out of the cafeteria and into the hall.

“The psychopathic omnipresent soul of a thousand AI’s working as a Dream Guardian intern,” said Hunk.

“Sounds perfect for you, Pidge,” said Matt.

“Did everyone couple up during your Seyoncé?” asked Romelle.

“It was a literally a game of Seven Minutes in Heaven,” said Lance, grabbing hold of Keith’s arm. “So,” he said wiggling his eyebrows at his boyfriend, “my room or yours?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those wondering I have two chapters planned after this one! We almost done!
> 
> Chilly xoxoxox


	45. Reaching Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro feels inspired to get in touch with someone from his past.

Chapter 45 - Reaching Out

Shiro tried to sleep, but sleep wouldn’t come. Too many thoughts swimming around in his head (including that last kiss with Adam.) Finally he gave up on the goal of sleeping. He went to Veronica’s room, apologizing for waking her up.

“Twice in one night I’ve been woken up by your crew,” she yawned. Her facemask was pushed back on her head, her face still sporting night cream. “This time better be as fun.”

“I’m afraid it’s more of a favour,” said Shiro.

*****

Just before nine am he joined her in the Communications Room.

“The worldwide communication network is up and running again, but mostly just Garrison bases have access so far,” Veronica explained. “Private citizens are difficult to track down, but most cities have done a census of their remaining citizens. I’ve got calls in to three different bases. Going on their last known location, they’re our best bet.”

“Thank you, Veronica,” this means the world to me.

“Anything for my favourite half-dead married couple.”

Veronica’s console lit up with a call. “We’ve got a hit,” she said before answering. “Galaxy Garrison Communications, this is McClain speaking, how may I direct your call?”

“McClain,” said the Officer on the screen. “I think we’ve tracked down one of the people you were asking about. I’ve got them here.”

“Take the wheel,” said Veronica, getting up and motioning for Shiro to take her seat.

“You don’t want to talk to them too?”

“I’ll let you have a moment,” she said, heading out the door.

Shiro sat. The Officer that had called had left his seat too so now he was looking at an empty chair on the screen. Shiro’s gut clenched with nerves. Seconds stretched into minutes as he waited. Then he heard shuffling as a body came onto screen. A middle-aged African American woman sat down in the chair and looked at him.

********

“I’m really glad you could join us for break,” said Adam’s mom, Michelle. She was making eye contact with Shiro in the rearview mirror.

“Watch the road, mom,” warned Adam.

Michelle was treating Shiro like he’d been invited and the plan had been all along that he’d go home with Adam. That of course wasn’t the case. Shiro was supposed to have gone home with his own parents, but they’d driven off without him after he’d come out to them. Of course that’s not how Adam spun it to his parents. He told them he’d scared Shiro’s parents so badly with his fabulousness that they drove off in a rush and forgot to bring Shiro. His parents had nodded along knowingly then his mom had said, “Well, we don’t want him to have to stay alone at the school over break so indeed we’ll have to keep him.” Adam’s dad had smiled and added, “The more the merrier!” 

So that’s how Shiro had ended up in the middle back seat of their car, holding Adam’s hand while his little brother played video games on the other side of him.

“Adam talks about you all the time, Takashi,” said Michelle, glancing in the rearview mirror to make eye contact again but them flitting her eyes back to the road.

Shiro felt his cheeks grow hot, having heard his given name used so casually by Adam’s mom.

“Sorry,” whispered Adam then he said, “Mom, I should’ve explained. Given names are personal in Japanese culture. Only I, his amazing boyfriend, may call him Takashi. You Normies, can call him Shiro.”

“My bad,” said Michelle.

“No, it’s okay,” said Shiro, pushing through the embarrassment. “I actually don’t mind if you do it too.”

“Thank you, Takashi,” said Michelle, smiling at him in the mirror.

“Uh-uh! No way!” said Adam, sitting up. “That is my special, sexy thing with my boyfriend. Heck, it was how I turned him ga!. It was steps 1-5 in my twenty point seduction plan and now my mom is saying it? It sounds like you’re hitting on him and furthermore -”

“Adam!” snapped Michelle. “What did I tell you about being a Drama Queen?”

Adam sighed. “To leave the drama to my mama.”

“Mmhmm that’s right.”

Adam’s dad laughed and Shiro found himself laughing too, despite the horror that had just occurred with his parents. Michelle caught Shiro’s eye in the mirror again and smiled at him. He felt a warmth coming off her and this family. He understood now how Adam got to be so amazing.

********

“Takashi?” The name came out like an escaped breath. She slapped her hand over her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes and spilling over.

“Michelle,” said Shiro, swallowing back a lump in his throat. She was a sight for sore eyes.

Quiet tears quickly turned into sobs. “We thought you were dead,” she cried. “We had a funeral.”

Shiro had never stopped to consider that a service had been held in his honour. But with the Garrison telling the world he was dead, it made sense. And now he was picturing Adam and his family standing in a cemetery, burying an empty box… Adam touching Shiro’s name on the Memorial wall… Now Shiro was sobbing too.

“Back when funerals weren’t a luxury,” Michelle added between cries. And it struck Shiro what she meant. Adam had died in the first wave of Sendak’s invasion. There’d been no service for him. “You know about Adam?” asked Michelle, looking afraid. She thought she had to break the news to him.

“I know,” said Shiro, reassuringly. He wanted to add something like ‘he died a hero,’ but what comfort would that bring a mother? It brought no comfort to Shiro.

“We found out months later,” said Michelle, wiping tears away with the sleeve of her sweater. “Through an underground rebel group. We were in hiding at the time.”

“I’m so sorry,” said Shiro. “Adam was…” Where to even begin? “I miss him.” And I just saw him and married him, but that was TMI for the beginning of a conversation.

“I miss him everyday,” said Michelle. “But I am so overjoyed to see you, Takashi. You were like a third son to me. It is so, so good to see your face and hear your voice.”

“You too, Michelle. You were like a mother to me.”

“I want to see you in person,” said Michelle, bucking up. “Can I see you?”

“I would love to see you,” agreed Shiro. “I’m at the New Galaxy Garrison. It’s in the same location as the school used to be.”

“That’s about a four hour drive from here,” said Michelle, looking concerned.

“I’ll order a transport,” said Shiro. “Are Jacob and Logan with you?” He was hoping her husband and son were able to stick together.

“Yes, we’re all here. Logan became a resistance fighter during the invasion. He joined up with Mohammed and Reece. You remember them?”

“Of course!” exclaimed Shiro, feeling a surge of joy just hearing his old roommates names. “Are they okay?”

“Yes, we’re all helping with the rebuild here.”

“Bring them all,” said Shiro, suddenly invigorated. “Do you think they’ll wanna come?”

“To see you, Takashi? Absolutely.” Michelle sighed and rested her chin on her palm. “I thought I’d lost you both. In a way, it’s like getting Adam back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is the last planned chapter. Please subscribe as their is a Adonica fic that'll work as a prequel to this coming! And after season 8 I'm sure to want to write something (especially if there's no Klance endgame)
> 
> Lots of Love! Thanks for reading!
> 
> Chilly xoxoxox


	46. Pretenders of the Universe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance get a little unwind time. The whole team collapses into chaos as soon as Space Dad turns his back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not leading to a smut scene. Sorry.

Chapter 46 – Pretenders of the Universe

Keith had gone back to Lance’s room last night. They’d kissed and talked then kissed some more. Finally succumbing to the need to sleep just as the sky was lightening, creeping towards sunrise.

Keith woke up a few hours later, too excited to be near Lance to stay asleep. There were so many things about sharing a bed with someone he hadn’t been prepared for like where to place your legs when spooning and your arm falling asleep underneath the other and worrying about morning breath. But then there were all the really great perks like the warmth coming off Lance’s back, feeling so cozy you never want to move again (numb limbs be damned,) seeing Lance’s eyelids heavy from sleep, and not giving a flying quiznak about your morning breath the moment decide you need to kiss that heavy lidded boy the moment your eyes meet.

Kissing back inside their bodies was different than kissing in their souls (soul?) It wasn’t as flawless as it had been in the non-physical realms. Being real people meant there were tiny imperfections like scraping teeth, scratching finger nails, bumping noses, and fingers caught in hair. Actually… Lance might’ve been deliberately tugging Keith’s hair and if he’s being honest it was not on his list of negatives. In fact none of this was. It was all positives because it was all real and it was all accompanied that cute Cuban boy in his arms doing wonderful things with his tongue.

There was very much a risk Keith would never be able to leave this bed and for that reason… “Alright,” said Keith, pulling out of the kiss and sitting straight up. “We need to go.”

“There are so many ways I could interpret that,” said Lance, sitting up and tugging at Keith’s shirt. Keith relented and fell back into the kiss. It was just too addicting. How come sis whole body was humming just from kissing?

“I mean it,” said Keith, pulling back.

“You are being very unclear with your meaning,” said Lance, nuzzling his nose against Keith’s before dipping back into another kiss.

“You are not letting me finish,” protested Keith.

“Babe, I always want you to finish,” said Lance, wiggling his eyebrows.

‘Too far,’ thought Keith as he gave Lance a shove. Lance flopped back onto his bed and gracefully posed himself by propping himself up on his elbow. “What I’m trying to say is we should get up for that day,” said Keith.

“Why?” groaned Lance. “We have nothing to do today. No missions. No one trying to kill us. No plans to speak of and we’ve been pinning for each other for so long. Can’t we just take a day to bask?”

Keith felt his heart swell. In some ways he really wanted to agree and just lie back down. However… “We do have plans.”

“Oh?”

“You’re going to introduce me to your parents,” said Keith with a blush.

“Oh quiznak!” said Lance, sitting up straight again.

“Wait. Didn’t you want me to?”

“Yeah, but I just realized I’m going to have to come out as bisexual to my family.” Lance looked completely freaked. Keith felt for him and took his hand.

“Do you think they’re going to be upset?”

“No. I don’t think so,” said Lance. “I mean my sister has a girlfriend and my uncle’s trans so it’s not like I’m the first.”

“What?” deadpanned Keith, releasing Lance’s hand. “Half your family is queer and you were still in the closet?”

“Whatever,” Lance shot back. “You were raised by gay dads, but you were in the closet too!”

“I may not have been out out, but Shiro knew and at least I wasn’t hiding my sexuality from my very self.”

“Well, you’ve got me there!” said Lance. “But to be fair, it’s confusing being bi! It’s like questioning yourself every step of the way. Like right now I’m thinking, ‘I really enjoy kissing Keith! Maybe I’m just gay!’”

“You’re not.”

“Quiznak! I don’t know!” said Lance, running his hands through his hair.

“Which sister has a girlfriend? Veronica?” asked Keith, going back to what Lance had said earlier. 

“Yeah, but she’s dumb and she keeps forgetting her girlfriend’s name. Sometimes she says, ‘my girlfriend Ina’ and other times she says, ‘my girlfriend Nadia.’ Like…try to remember which one you’re dating.”

“What if she’s dating both of them?” asked Keith.

Lance looked confused. “Like secretly? Like she’s cheating on them both? That doesn’t sound like her…”

“Or,” said Keith, “They know and they’re dating each other as well?”

Lance blinked. “That doesn’t sound like something that happens.”

“I really wish a Queer Handbook did exist so you could learn about this stuff.”

“We both know I wouldn’t actually read that,” said Lance hopping up and heading towards his closet.

“What are you doing?” asked Keith.

“Gonna get dressed so I can take you to meet my parents. I can’t wear my jammies for such a momentous occasion. It’s not like it’s a wedding.”

“You can’t change in front of me!” cried Keith, feeling the heat enter his face.

“Dude, we share the same soul. I can get a little PG-13 in front of you.” Lance was already unbuttoning his pajama top.

“Nudity is not PG-13! Nudity is too much too soon!”

“Keith, I am only going down to my boxers. You’ve seen me in my bathing suit. Exact same amount of skin.”

“Different context!”

“Is this gay panic?” asked Lance. “Are you gay panicking right now?” But his shirt was already undone and he was slipping it off and Keith caught a glimpse of navel and it was all over for him. He flopped down on the bed, rolled to face the wall, and squeezed his eyes shut. “And now you’re in the fetal position,” complained Lance. “Nice to know my body is that scary.”

Keith could hear the rustle of fabric as Lance changed. “Your body is not scary,” Keith mumbled into a pillow. “It is luminous like the sun which is exactly why I can’t look at it directly.”

“Keith,” said Lance, his voice sounding closer than it should sound. “How about some sun kissed skin?”

Keith didn’t know what that meant, but he was blushing so deeply… And then he felt Lance’s weight on the bed and Mr. McClain himself scooted on up to his back and spooned Keith from behind. Keith could tell from the arm that wrapped around his front that Lance was no wearing a shirt!

“You better be wearing pants,” Keith hissed. 

“Check for yourself,” said Lance, hooking a leg over Keith’s and he saw that yes indeed Lance was wearing jeans and thank the Ancient Ones for that. “Wouldn’t want to give you a sunburn,” Lance teased.

“I hate you,” said Keith, but he was already rolling over to face Lance.

“You pronounce the word ‘love’ funny,” snickered Lance.

Keith wanted to say something scathing and sarcastic, but instead his mouth was busy catching the lips of the one he loved. Now his arm was reaching around Lance’s bare back and wooooow! How did he not know what touching bare skin was like? He’d always assumed nudity was for the eyes, but oh no, there was a whole touch element to it that was setting off fireworks in Keith’s brain.

Oh no, oh no! This bed was a pit with high walls and no hope of escape. Not that Keith would dare hope to be anywhere else. Plans be quiznaked! This was where he was staying today.

“You’re on to something here,” said Keith, running his hand across Lance’s bare back. Lance let out the softest little sigh and now Keith was pulling at the hem of his own shirt. He wanted to test out this skin contact stuff more. Lance was just starting to help Keith pull up his shirt when the door was ripped open.

“LONCE!” bellowed Allura’s voice. And I can’t lie, Keith screamed a bit, pulling his shirt back down.

“He told me he was single!” cried Keith, scurrying away from Lance, pressing his back against the wall, bracing for whatever pain Allura was sure to deliver. (She’d nearly murdered Melenor last night and that was her own mother! No telling what she’d do to Keith!)

“Keith! Good!” said Allura, spotting him. “I’m glad you’re both here. I need to gather all the Paladins together!”

Keith looked up from behind his hands (where he’d been cowering in fear.) Allura didn’t look mad at all. Well, only in the angry sense. She did look mad in the crazy sense.

“Oh hey, Allura,” said Lance, with a smirk. “Care to join us?”

Keith punched Lance on the arm. “Ow! What?” asked Lance as if he didn’t know.

“Seriously hitting on her?” growled Keith.

“Sorry. Force of habit.”

“What’s up Prin – er – Allura?” asked Lance, watching Allura pace back and forth. “Whatcha pacin’ ‘bout?”

“We have so much work to do! I must get everyone together!” said Allura, never slowing down. “I have been up all night formulating a plan.”

“To do what?” asked Lance.

“To find the missing Colony Alteans!” Allura practically yelled. “I have Sam and Slav working on a teleduv for the Atlas, I have rebels gathering intel from across the galaxy, sweeping for their potential location, and I need everyone at the ready to move out as soon as we have a lead!”

“Uh huh, uh huh,” said Lance. “And at any point did you stop to sleep?”

“I do not need sleep!” said Allura, spinning on Lance with an accusing point of the finger. “Sleep is for the weak! I shall sleep when I am dead!”

“Well, we all know sleep is not what happens when we die…”

“Besides I have never felt more awake in my entire life!” Allura raved. “Hunk gave me the most wonderful thing to drink, an expression beverage!”

“Expression?” repeated Keith, scooting up to sit beside Lance.

“Yes, expression! It comes in teeny tiny cups,” said Allura, miming holding the cup, “and it is made from the cawfey bean!”

“Cawfey bean?” repeated Lance. “Do you mean coffee?”

“I think she’s talking about espresso,” said Keith.

“Yes!” said Allura, pointing at Keith. “It is like the word expression, but you say it like you are casting a spell. Es-Press-Soooo!” bellowed Allura, while swirling an imaginary wand in the air.

Lance looked at Keith and shrugged. “She’s not wrong.”

“I have had five so far and I feel invincible!” Allura flexed her biceps then for no discernable reason craned kicked Lance’s bedroom wall. Her foot went into the drywall and got stuck.

“Well, you sure showed my wall whose boss,” said Lance. “You sure you’re okay?”

Allura pulled her foot out of the wall and slumped forward, breathing raggidly. “Now that you mention it, my heart is racing like a Dimalian show mongerat. Maybe I’ll just lay down for a tick.”

Allura outright collapsed on the bed, forcing Lance and Keith to scurry out of the way.

“Now she’s literally in your bed,” Keith whispered to Lance. “Should I be worried about this?”

“About Allura? No way,” said Lance with a casual shrug. “She’s just my BFF.”

“Yes!” agreed Allura, talking to the ceiling. “Lance and I are B-F-Fs! Beasties For Forever!”

“No,” said Lance, shaking his head. “Not even close to right. But I love the enthusiasm. Hey,” said Lance, raising an eyebrow at Keith. “Both a boy and a girl in my bed. This is Bi Culture right here.”

“No,” said Keith. “This is Poly Culture which you’d know if the Queer Handbook existed.”

“Poly?” repeated Lance.

“Polyamorous. Like Veronica.”

Lance just blinked.

“Yeah, I’m gonna let Veronica explain it to you.”

“No time to rest!” cried Allura, popping back up to standing. “I need another Es-press-soooo!” She pointed her finger at the door and charged back out. “Lance, put on a shirt!” she called back to him.

“And we’re up,” said Lance, rocking himself onto his feet and heading to his closet. 

Keith was watching (riveted really) as Lance pulled on his favourite baseball style tee when they heard shouting from the hall.

“Allura, calm down!” shouted Pidge.

“No time!” replied Allura.

The two boys poked their heads out into the hall in time to see Allura do a cartwheel down the hall.

“What got into her?” asked Pidge.

“Five shots of espresso,” answered Lance. “What got into you?” He was eyeing Pidge who looked death warmed up.

“Nothing,” said Pidge, defensively.

“Didn’t you sleep?”

“I can’t sleep,” said Pidge. “Not until I think of the perfect pickup line.”

“That’s a bad strategy,” said Lance. “I always just wing it.”

“And it won you exactly one boyfriend after several years.” Pidge shrugged. “Besides, staying up the rest of the night allowed me to set up my revenge prank on Matt.”

“Which is?” asked Keith.

“You’ll see,” said Pidge with a smirk.

“Are we the only ones that actually slept?” asked Lance, looking at Keith.

“OhOHHHohhhh,” came a sing-song voice. Lance and Keith turned to see Veronica suddenly right up on them. “Look who had their boyfriend sleepover.” She was doing that thing she does when she’s being cheeky where adjusts her glasses, wiggling them up and down.

Lance turned red, suddenly embarrassed.

“Settle a bet for us,” said Keith. “How many girlfriends do you have? One or two?”

“Two,” answered Veronica. “Why? Got another you wanna set me up with?”

“See,” said Keith, turning to Lance. Lance couldn’t responded. He was frozen in shock with his jaw hanging down.

“How are you surprised?” snapped Veronica. “I’ve been talking about Ina and Nadia for months.”

“Well great!” said Lance, finding his voice. “If you have two girlfriends then it won’t even be newsworthy that I have a boyfriend.”

“Guys!” shouted Hunk, lumbering down the hall towards their group. “I messed up! I messed up bad! I had no idea how caffeine would affect Alteans, but now they’re full of energy and super strong and I’m scared!”

“Tell me about it,” said Lance, “Allura kicked a hole in my wall.”

That’s when they heard Coran screaming and turned around in time to see him charging down the hallway with Allura riding on his back. “I’M THE QUEEN OF ALTEA!” she screamed, whizzing by them.

“That’s awesome,” said Pidge, cackling at the sight of the Alteans disappearing around the corner.

“PIDGE!” everyone turned to see Matt stomping down the hall towards her. He was dripping wet and dressed in only a towel. “Why the quiznak am I green?!” Oh yeah, and his skin was dyed green.

“You wanna be the Green Paladin so bad,” sassed Pidge, “Now you’re all green!”

“What did you put in my body wash?” he demanded.

“Green dye I’m guessing,” said Keith.

Matt gave Keith a dirty look and then turned back to Pidge, “You are dead!”

“Have to catch me first!” taunted Pidge, taking off at a run. Matt went scrambling after her, his towel fluttering behind him.

Keith was aware that he was staring and mostly aware that Lance was doing the same.

“Geez,” said Hunk, “You two just need to get a room with Matt already.”

“Shut up!” yelled Keith at the same time Lance yelled, “We are not into him!”

“Sure looks like you are!” teased Veronica.

“Why is everyone yelling?” asked Romelle, poking her head out of her bedroom. She yawned. “It’s early.”

“It’s almost lunchtime,” said Hunk.

“But we were up so late and there’s nothing to do today.”

“That’s what I said,” agreed Lance.

“ROMELLE!” Allura’s voice caught their attention. They looked and saw Coran galloping back towards them with Allura on his back. “Are you still wearing my Paladin suit?”

“Yes,” said Romelle, opening the door further to reveal that she was still indeed, wearing it. “I like it… Plus it’s stuck and I can’t get it off and I had to sleep in it.”

“Give it back!” said Allura, dropping off Coran’s shoulders. She then lunged towards Romelle. Romelle freaked out and darted back into her room and slammed the door. “Open up!” shouted Allura, kicking the door so hard she made another hole and got her foot stuck again!

“Everybody down!” shouted Krolia, bursting out of her own room and pointing her blaster at the group. Everyone dropped to the ground except Allura, who was stuck. “Who’s attacking us?”

“Don’t shoot!” said Coran, raising his arms in the air.

“Yesssss,” hissed Veronica. “My Ride or Die B*tch coming to my rescue.”

“Literally no one is attacking,” said Keith. “Everything’s fine, mom.”

“It doesn’t sound fine,” said Krolia, lowering her weapon.

“My brother is attacking your son’s innocence,” snickered Veronica as they all stood by up.

“Veronica!” snapped Lance.

“Ahhhhhhh! I’m being murdered!” Everyone turned when they heard Pidge screaming. Krolia raised her blaster again. Pidge went streaking through the group of them with Matt hot on her heels.

“She’s lying! I haven’t even caught her yet!” yelled Matt.

“And you never will!”

“Someone get me out of here please!”

“I knew caffeine was a mistake!”

“I’ll help you, your majesty!”

“Stay out of my business, Veronica!”

The hallway erupted into four different arguments right as Pidge ran smack dab into Iverson, rebounding off his chest. Matt, slid to a halt, behind her, slapping an arm across his chest, suddenly self-conscious.

“What in tarnation is going on here?” bellowed Iverson. “I have been getting noise complaint after noise complaint! What are you thinking behaving like this? You’re supposed to be the Defenders of the Universe and you’re acting like a gang of toddlers! What do you have to say for yourselves?”

The question hung in the air for several seconds and then errrrryone answered at once:

“I gave Alteans caffeine!” “I don’t know what Poly means!” “She stole my Paladin suit!” “I can’t get her foot out of the door!” “I just wanted to meet my boyfriend’s parents!” “She put green paint in my body wash!” “I thought there was another invasion!” “Matt started it!”

“QUIET!” bellowed Shiro, appearing behind Iverson. Oh good. Space dad was there to bring order and peace.

“Shiro, get control of your people,” Iverson demanded.

“Everyone listen,” said Shiro, authority in his voice. He looked at each of them in the eye to make sure they were paying attention. “I have plans today, kids, so mom’s in charge.” And with that he turned and left.

Everyone looked at Allura who still had her foot trapped in the hole she’d made in door. That wasn’t going to work. All at once they started arguing again. Iverson drooped his head in defeat.

“Hey,” said Lance whispering into Keith ear. “I don’t know why, but I just remembered something I’ve always wanted to say to you.”

“What is it?” asked Keith, half expecting him to start yet another argument.

Instead Lance placed his hand on the wall behind Keith and leaned his body in towards Keith’s. “Boy,” said Lance, raising his eyebrow. “You’ve already activated my particle barrier.”

That shouldn’t have done anything for Keith. It really shouldn’t have…

“Bedroom now,” said Keith, grabbing Lance’s hand and pulling him back into his room.

“Okay, bye everyone,” said Lance, waving to their friends who were still too busy arguing amongst themselves to notice them slipping away together.

Long forgotten, they shut the door. Two boys, one soul, and the weight of the universe shrugged off their shoulders. At least for a little while…

THE END.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Writing this has been the highlight of my fall! I appreciate you so much for making it to the end! Please subscribe to me as I'll be starting a new VLD fic very soon.
> 
> Lots and lots of love,  
> Chilly xoxoxoxox


	47. After the After *BONUS CHAPTERS*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reality ceased to exist, but now it's back. The question is why did this happen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> POST SEASON 8 BONUS CHAPTERS: This story was was established as a branch of reality from the canon reality. I didn't intend to continue it or write a sequel, but my disappointment in season 8 inspired me to write a follow up chapter... which got longer and long and now I'm going to give you at least 5 chapters. ENJOY!!
> 
> Additional characters: Sam, Colleen, Matt, Veronica, Acxa, Shay, Krolia, Bored, Alfor, Honerva, Zarkon, Blaytz, Gyrgan, Trigel, Slav, Kosmo, Lotor

Chapter 47 - After the After

If you’re regularly a vivid dreamer, one of the most jarring experiences is waking up in the morning after a completely dreamless sleep. With no sense that time has passed, you feel like you stopped existing for a while there. Everyone aboard the IVG- Atlas just had this same experience. Except none of them had been asleep.

“Whoa,” said Keith, the moment that he was aware of his existence again. Everyone on the Bridge was looking as freaked out as he felt.

“What the quiznak was that?” cried Lance.

“Huh? What?” groaned Pidge, who had actually been asleep. 

“We lost time,” said Sam, checking his computer.

“I’m going to need a full status report,” said Shiro.

“Our instruments picked up nothing,” said Veronica.

“Maybe we had a collective brain fart?” offered Hunk.

“Let me rephrase,” said Veronica. “Our instruments picked up literally nothing for twelve minutes so either we had a major malfunction or…”

“We stopped existing for twelve minutes!” cried Slav.

“Allura?” asked Lance.

“I’m lost for an explanation, but…” Allura’s eyes went pure white like they do when she’s using her Ancient One powers. “Reality feels off. Like it skipped a beat.”

“Like on a record player?” said Lance.

“And… I feel… my own energy within reality. How can that be right? I didn’t release my energy…”

“Oh no no no,” muttered Slav, beginning to sweat. “There has been a catastrophic reality ending event on a quantum level! We literally ceased to exist! What could have caused this? Sam, what colour socks are you wearing?”

“Green,” said Sam, lifting his leg so he could pull up his pant leg to show the green sock peaking out of his shoe.

“Green!” cried Slav. “Green was yesterday’s lucky colour! Today it’s yellow! Didn’t you read this morning’s sock colour email blast?”

“People don’t read those,” scoffed Sam. That’s when all the Paladins and every Atlas crewmember present on the Bridge lifted their pant legs to show Sam their yellow socks. “I guess they do… Sorry if my socks collapsed reality.”

“Yes! Which is particularly disturbing because this is the reality where everything works out 100% of the time. Now things will only work out 99.9999999999% and that missing 0.0000000001% nearly ended reality itself!”

“We need more information than this,” said Keith. “If reality ended once, it can happen again. I think we should ask Mel about this one.” Keith put out his hand and Kosmo trotted over.

“Mel doesn’t like it when we pop into the astral plane to ask random questions,” said Lance. “She said she doesn’t do spoilers.”

“We’re not asking her what happens next this time. We’re asking what just happened. I’ll be right back.” Keith laid his hand on Kosmo and ZAP! he was off to the Astral Plane.

“What happened?” asked Colleen, entering the Bridge with Matt in tow. 

“Everything went… blank,” said Matt, for lack of a better word.

“We suspect we stopped existing,” said Pidge. 

“What did you do?” demanded Colleen.

“I didn’t do anything! Why do you assume I did something?”

“I know your handy work, when I see it, Missy! Also, you look terrible. Are you still suffering from insomnia?”

“Self-induced Insomnia,” said Hunk. “She’s stopped sleeping for through the night because she’s avoiding seeing a certain assistant to the Dream Guardian in her sleep.”

“I’m not avoiding anyone,” argued Pidge. “I’ve simply adopted the Uberman Sleep schedule and am only sleeping in twenty minute bursts six times a day. Lots of geniuses had extremely efficient sleep schedules like Tesla, Edison, and Da Vinci. I’m following in their footsteps.”

“Uh huh and I’m sure that has nothing to do with the fact that if you wake up before REM sleep,” said Hunk, “you never dream, and you never have to see Bored.”

“That has nothing to do with it!” snapped Pidge. “I’m doing this for my health.”

“Hunny, you look like death warmed up,” snapped Colleen. “Tesla was an idiot. You need your rest.”

ZAP! and Keith and Kosmo were back. Keith was looking down at the floor, arms crossed across his chest. “She yelled at me… So much.”

“Mel did?” asked Shiro.

“She’s really pissed off,” said Keith, “but she was already mad when I got there so I don’t think it’s because I wanted to know what had happened. Still, she’s not interested in answering questions right now.”

“Best I try,” said Allura, walking over to Kosmo. “I am her daughter and her Queen. She’ll speak to me.” ZAP!

“Are you concerned about using that cosmic wolf as your personal taxi between the physical and non-physical realities?” asked Slav. “He’s having to convert your mass into energy to do so. There’s a 73.4% chance of burnout if regular use persists.”

“Wait… what?” gasped Keith just as Allura ZAP!’d back into the Bridge, looking just as upset as Keith had.

“She yelled so loud. I’d forgotten that side of my mother.”

“The whole being her Queen angle didn’t work?” asked Hunk.

“She didn’t even let me say anything,” said Allura. “Just yelled that she was disappointed in me.”

“Disappointed in you for what?” asked Matt.

“I don’t know,” groaned Allura. “And then when I tried to explain myself she told me to ‘save the drama for my mama.’ Where did she learn to talk like that? I think Shiro should try next.”

“Oh yeah, Mel has a soft spot for Shiro,” agreed Hunk.

“Because she watched over me while I was trapped in the astral plane,” said Shiro.

“Yeah, watched over your bod,” teased Pidge.

“Katie!” snapped Colleen.

“Actually, I was thinking because Adam was there with her,” said Allura.

“Adam?” said Shiro, perking up. Adam and Shiro were able to keep in touch through dreams, but Mel rarely allowed them to meet in the astral plane. Shiro strode over to Kosmo and ZAP!’d away to visit his dead husband.

“Not to mention,” continued Slav as he was still having the same conversation with himself. “Where are your bodies going? There’s no such thing as actual teleporting without a wormhole. Your atoms are being scattered into the air and then you are being reformed out of new atoms at the second location. You’re essentially cloning yourself every time!”

“Slav, read the room,” said Lance. “We’re comfortable with clones.”

Shiro ZAP!’d back much sooner than they’d expected.

“What did Adam say?” asked Keith.

Shiro sighed, sagging his body forward just like Keith and Allura before him. “Not much… that I could understand. He saw me and burst into tears. Between the sobs he accused me of dating someone named… Curtain?”

“I don’t know any Curtains,” said Lance.

“The other reality!” Pidge burst out.

“What?” cried the Paladins.

“Go on…,” said Slav, his attention peaked.

“There was a branch off from our own reality,” explained Pidge. “Bored referenced it when we were travelling the path cutting through the other non-physical realms. She said there was a parallel reality we branched off of some time between the battle with the first Komar Robeast and when we travelled to the astral plane.”

“We can’t worry about other realities,” said Keith.

“No, don’t you see? Our other selves are clearly making different choices. Hence Shiro dating Curtain.”

“Why should Adam care what alternate reality Shiro does?” asked Lance. “Shouldn’t alternate reality Adam worry about that one?”

“There’s only the one Adam,” said Shiro.

“Yes, for you. So romantic,” said Lance. “Like there’s only one Kogane for me despite the fact that there’s a guy name Dave Kogane who works in the engine rooms and checks me out whenever I see him.”

“What?” gasped Keith. “Who is this other Kogane and how do I stab him?”

“No, there’s literally just the one Adam,” explained Shiro. “Adam died before the realities branched. So to him, they’re both me and the other reality me are his Takashi’s.”

“But he married you, specifically, right?” clarified Hunk.

“Adam wouldn’t be that rational,” sighed Shiro.

“Perhaps it was alternate reality Keith that stepped on a crack and broke this reality’s Krolia’s back,” suggested Slav.

“Falling three-hundred stories from a moving Lion, broke my back,” groaned Krolia, attempting to move from her station to talk, but needing to spin her whole body as the back brace she was wearing kept her spine perfectly straight.

“That and quantum entanglement,” said Slav.

“Does he need to be here for this conversation?” asked Krolia, nudging her whole upper half towards Slav.

“Actually this is the very context in which he’s useful,” said Pidge. “I wonder…” Pidge yawned and closed her eyes. Everyone stared at her, waiting for her to continue.

“She’s asleep again,” said Hunk. He snapped his fingers in front of his friend.

Pidge startled awake then continued her sentence as if she hadn’t been asleep, “Honerva’s plan was to pierce through the realities until she found a reality where she could be happy.”

“Yeah, but she never got that far,” said Keith. “We stopped her movements ago.”

“And just in time for Clear Day,” said Coran, piping in. “To think, had our plan to defeat her taken any longer, we wouldn’t have been able to premiere the Voltron Musical at Clear Day.”

“Oh yeah, man,” said Hunk, “We were amazing.”

“I fully regret my participation in that,” groaned Pidge.

“Same,” said Keith.

“Why do you mean?” gasped Lance. “Keith was the star of the show!”

“Yeah, and it he was played by Allura. I played a mute tree.”

“Yes, but you were an oak tree, the angstiest of trees, and you were amazing, babe,” said Lance. “Stole the show.”

“Lance, is pageant mom-ing again, Pidge. Pidge?” Hunk turned to see her asleep again. He gave her a nudge.

“Huh? What were were talking about?” asked Pidge.

“How we beat Honerva before Clear Day,” said Keith.

“Exactly, we did. They however, maybe didn’t and Honerva just pierced through realities. Maybe that’s why our reality blinked out for twelve minutes.”

“But we’re back now,” said Hunk.

“I think I should speak with Melenor,” said Coran. “She might open up to me. She does owe me one after all.”

“What could the omnipresent ancient one and leader of the realm Guardians, second only in command to the Black Lion and the Lion Goddess herself, possible owe you, Coran?” asked Lance.

“Well, I did fulfill her dying wish of taking on her role and caring for her family.”

“Oh… Right…”

“Plus you lot keep popping off to the astral plane whenever it pleases you. Be nice if I could go and see some of my dead friends… the Paladins… Alfor…”

“Coran, I wish we could send you,” said Allura. “But mother has explicitly told us it’s impossible to bring someone to the astral plane who’s never made a connection with a Lion.”

“But I have made a connection! I flew the Yellow Lion during part of the final battle with Honerva!”

“That’s right!” said Hunk. “I did hand over the controls to you when I had to go repair the Crystaline Hard Wave Interrupter.”

“That machine…,” lamented Allura. “I had to pump so much quintessence into to keep it running. Abandoning my Lion was a must. You did amazing flying Blue, Veronica.”

“My pleasure,” said Veronica. “I’ll do it again anytime.”

“Luckily you realized a single soul inside the machine could funnel the quintessence instantaneously,” said Hunk, speaking to Allura.

“Unfortunately, the stress would’ve been too much for the soul’s body,” lamented Allura.

“Luckily you know a pair of guys who share a single soul,” said Lance, nudging Keith with his elbow.

“The stress spread out over both of us meant we could charge the machine and stay alive,” agreed Keith.

“Leakira for the win!” cheered Lance, giving his boyfriend a squeeze.

“Don’t call us that,” groaned Keith.

“What? It’s our soul’s name…” Lance looked at Krolia. “Thank you for taking over Red when I needed to go play conduit inside the machine.”

“You’re welcome,” said Krolia, turning with her full body to address him. “I always wanted to fly a Lion after all those years protecting them.”

“Also…,” said Lance, “How amazing was Black Paladin Romelle?”

“Right?” said Hunk at the same time Keith said, “I know!” and several others agreed.

“She stepped up and showed incredible leadership,” said Allura.

“In a pinch no less,” agreed Shiro.

“You should consider stepping down and letting her lead, Keith,” said Lance which made his boyfriend scowl. 

“Oh hey, maybe that’s the problem with the other reality?” said Hunk. “They didn’t give Romelle a chance to lead.”

“Big mistake,” said Lance. “Huge!”

“We’ll never find out what they did unless I ask,” said Coran. With a nod from Keith, Coran took hold of Kosmo’s fur and ZAP!’d off to the astral plane.

“What’s going on?” asked Romelle as the doors to the Bridge slid open.

“Romelle, we were just talking about you,” said Lance.

“That’s all very good, but what happened just now? Lotor and I,” said Romelle, gesturing to her companion, “were just visiting the freed Robeast Alteans in the sick bay when it seemed like… like everything turned off for a dobosh. Including myself.”

“We think our reality blinked out for a bit,” said Hunk. “Coran went to ask Mel about it.”

“I thought Melenor told you all to stop bothering her.” It’s true. Having figured out the shortcut to the astral plane using Kosmo, the Paladins were running to Mel every time they didn’t like something. Going to be Mel had become the equivalent of asking to speak to a manager.

“This one feels like an emergency.”

“You said that about Honerva,” said Romelle, “And she wouldn’t help us then. Said we were on our own. Then you had to magically put Shiro and Pidge to sleep so they could pump Adam and Bored for information in their dreams.”

“Bored made me answer a riddle every time I wanted to ask a question…,” said Pidge then she sighed. “It’s everything I never knew I wanted in a relationship...”

“Plus I got to fly Green while you were asleep,” said Matt. “It was awesome.”

“I’m so glad that after you guys dressed up in our Paladins suits as a prank, we had the idea to actually train you to be our backups,” said Lance.

“We’re fortunate the Lions accepted us as Paladins,” said Romelle.

“This is the reality where 99.9999999999% of things work out,” said Slav.

“Lotor,” said Allura, approaching the fallen Prince, he wasn’t very chatty these days, not since being brought back from the dead. “How are you today?”

“Tired,” answered Lotor. “But otherwise, pleased to be alive again thanks to you, Allura.”

“You keep thanking me, but I must keep thank you,” said Allura. “You were the one who took the dark entity into yourself and risked being truly corrupted so you could form a connection to Honerva and find out her plan.”

“It was that or let your stubbornness win out and have you do it yourself. Your alchemy powers are far too powerful to risk the corruption. I am… expendable.”

“Clearly you are not,” said Allura. “It was you who talked your mother out of following through on her plan to pierce through realities and instead convinced her to sacrifice herself in order to draw the dark entities out of yourself and the corrupted Alteans and safely seal up the rift for good.”

“In a way, her sacrifice brought her redemption in my eyes and I was able to accept her as my mother.”

“She saved the universe.”

“We all did,” said Lotor.

There was a ZAP! and Coran was back, only this time he was crying. “Oh, there there, Coran,” said Allura, rushing to his side. “Mother can be quite sharp tongued. I am sorry she’s hurt your feelings.”

“It’s… it’s not that. It’s…” Coran looked at Allura’s face and burst into a sobbing fit.

“Oh dear…”

“I’m doing back there,” said Keith.

“I’m coming with you,” said Lance. “It feels weird when you visit our soul and I’m not there. Kinda icky.”

“I’m coming too,” said Allura. “Mother has to speak to me. This is getting ridiculous.”

“I want to go again too,” said Shiro. “Maybe Adam’s calmed down a bit… Or at least he’s coherent while he’s crying…”

“I guess we should all just go,” said Hunk.

“Nope. Not me. Have fun,” said Pidge, giving a wave.

“Pidge, you can’t avoid your feelings for Bored forever.”

“I can and I will.”

“All Paladins are going,” said Keith. “That’s an order.” The whole team plus the back up team moved towards Kosmo. “No, just the main Paladins.”

“But I wanna go and see Addy!” said Veronica.

“Wait, we can see Adam?” said Colleen. “I want to see Adam.”

“Now, Colleen,” said Shiro, “I’m sure you do, but we can’t bring non-Paladins to the astral plane. You need a Lion connection.”

“But I flew Green in the fight!” argued Colleen.

“What?” asked Pidge, suddenly wide awake. “When?”

“I took over for Matt.”

Pidge shot an accusing look at her brother who scratched the back of his head. “I had to do a science and couldn’t fly anymore.”

“So I get to come too,” said Colleen. Shiro was about to protest, but Colleen got that scary mommy look on her face and he quickly shut up.

“I’d very much wish to meet Melenor,” said Lotor.

“You definitely can’t come,” said Lance.

“But I also flew Green during the final battle,” said Lotor. “Did Matthew not tell you? He was busy doing a science.”

Pidge shot an even harder look at her brother. Matt stumbled over his explanation. “Technically Lotor flew it after me and then mom took over when Lotor had to speak to Honerva.”

“How could you let our very recent enemy fly the Green Lion?” demanded Pidge.

“He’s got a scientific mind and his gender is ambiguous. How is that not the very definition of a Green Paladin?”

“Fine. That’s fair.”

“So I can come too?” asked Sam.

“Dad, when did you fly the Green Lion?”

“Your mom let me have a go while it was her turn. It was fun. I enjoyed it.”

Pidge was fuming. “Anyone else fly the Green Lion while I was asleep during the final battle?” Half the Garrison employees on the Bridge raised their hands.

“What?” cried Lance, outraged. “These randos flew a Lion?” 

“No one’s saying it,” began Matt, “but the Green Lion is a bit of a sl –” Matt was interrupted by Pidge punching her brother in the stomach. “Ow! I deserved that.”

Lance gestured to a guy beside Shiro who had his hand raised. “You flew Green? I don’t even know your name!”

“My name is Cur-”

“I don’t need your life story, Cur,” said Lance, cutting the guy off and turning away.

“It’s not Cur, it’s Curt -”

“Let’s get going,” said Keith. “At this point I don’t care who comes.”

“Great,” said Veronica. “I just texted Acxa to come join. I want Addy to meet my new girlfriend.”

“How many girlfriends do you have?” gasped Lance.

“Three so far. Why? You got someone you want me to meet?” Veronica wiggled her eyebrows at Lance.

“What is wrong with you?” groaned.

“Nothing. I’m perfect. You’re just mad I have better game than you.”

“Acxa never flew a Lion,” said Keith, cutting into the pointless argument.

“Yes, I did,” said Acxa, entering the Bridge. “I took over for our mother when she fell and broke her spin. Red accepted me immediately. He likes to bond to our bloodline.”

“It’s comforting to hear you refer to me as your mother,” said Krolia, “after our long estrangement.”

“Nothing better helps you forgive being abandoned in an orphanage so your mother can continue working for the Blades of Marmora than having her jump out of a flying robot lion to save your life.”

“Wait? What?” cried Lance. “Keith, Acxa is your sister?”

“I knew that,” said Shiro.

“Oh yeah, I figured,” said Hunk.

“I’ve known for quite some time,” said Allura.

“We weren’t supposed to think you two were siblings?” said Coran, pointing between Keith and Acxa. “But you have the same face.”

“Well, I didn’t know!” yelled Lance.

“Babe, I told you this,” said Keith. “When we were inside the Crystaline Machine… How the time flashes in the quantum abyss told the story of Krolia discovering she was pregnant with Acxa after she left Earth…”

“Nope! Don’t remember! Didn’t happen!” Then he turned to his own sister. “Veronica, you can’t date Keith’s sister.”

“Why not?”

“Because that makes me and Keith brothers,” said Lance. “Which in turn makes you and Acxa sisters.”

“No. That’s not how any of that works.”

“Everyone! Let’s just go!” snapped Keith. Everyone on the Bridge headed towards Kosmo.

Slav threw out an arm to stop Sam. “I would stay back if I were you,” said Slav. “You’re in the wrong socks. You don’t want to jinx it for everyone else.”

“Everyone gets to go but me?” cried Sam.

“I need to differ command to you while I’m gone,” said Shiro.

“No Sam and no background randos,” warned Lance. “If I haven’t bothered to learn your name, you’re not coming to the astral plane… Also, if you I know your name, but that name is Lotor, you’re also not coming.”

“I am bringing Lotor,” said Allura, firmly.

“Ugh fine,” said Lance.

“Hold on everyone,” said Colleen. “I have to pee before we go.”

“You can’t just hold it?” squeaked Keith.

“You try having two kids and then just ‘holding it,’” snapped Colleen.

“Tell me about it,” muttered Krolia.

“But soon you won’t even be in your body,” argued Keith. “You won’t have to pee in the astral plane.”

“Because your atoms will have exploded like a supernova!” said Slav.

“I’ll be two minutes,” said Colleen, exiting the Bridge. Everyone sighed.

Keith pulled Lance in close and muttered, “You really need to cool it with the Lotor jealousy. I don’t care if it’s out of habit. You are on the verge of hurting my feelings.”

“It’s not about being jealous. I’m being protective of Allura,” said Lance. “He was very recently evil.”

“I know, but we all went inside his mind when we aided Allura in bringing him back to life by using our quintessence as a chain to pull him back to his body. We saw how he was misguided, but his intentions were good. Those Alteans that died, they all volunteered knowing death was a risk. And we saw how he tried in vain to transfer his quintessence to Bandor’s body and wept over his corpse when he failed.”

Lance sighed. “That’s true. I don’t like how he snapped and tried to kill us though.”

“He had issues from being abused as a child. It made him crazy at times. He’s healed now. Even his marks of the chosen look normal shaped like Allura’s.”

“It is so weird hearing you defend him,” said Lance then he sighed. “But you’re right… As usual. I love you.”

“I love you too,” said Keith, planting a kiss on his boyfriend’s check.

“Let’s get this metaphysical show on the road,” cheered Colleen, reentering the Bridge.

“Everyone get in close,” said Keith. “Kosmo’s never taken a load like this. It might be a struggle for –” ZAP! They disappeared just like that.

“Nobody breathe,” warned Slav. “Their atoms are everywhere. They’ll want them when they get back.”


	48. This is why we can't have nice things *BONUS CHAPTERS*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Romelle and Bored go head to head. Keith finds out about the other Lance's dating life.

The sudden arrival in the astral plane was met by a whole bunch of ‘whoa’s’ from those who had never traveled there before. To the core Paladins it was same ol’ same ol’ except… It was off.

“Does this place seem weird to you?” asked Hunk.

“I can move here,” said Krolia, twisting her spin for the first time in weeks.

“Because our bodies aren’t actually here,” said Pidge.

“It seems so real, but so different,” marveled Acxa, looking around.

““Oh, Addy,” gasped Veronica, pointing up ahead.

“Adam?” said Shiro, looking forward into the distance. Melenor was kneeling on the ground with Adam practically in her lap, sobbing.

“Honestly, Adam,” said Melenor, her loud voice travelling across the empty space, “I know you’re broken up about Shiro, but there are far worse consequences to the branch off than your alternate reality husband agreeing to a date.”

“Worse consequences?” muttered Keith going to step forward at the same time Shiro did.

“Halt!” cried Bored, popping into existence in front of them in her android form. “Sorry, can’t let you flesh bags through. Mel gave me specific instructions to prevent you at all costs and that included giving me permission to soul murder you.”

“No, I did not!” yelled Melenor.

“Nevermind. Go ahead,” said Bored, stepping aside.

“Yes, to stopping them, no to murdering them!” yelled Melenor.

“Not so fast,” said Bored, blocking the moving Paladins once again.

“Bored, this is ridiculous,” cried Allura.

“We’re just looking for answers,” said Keith. “What’s happening in the other reality that caused ours to blink out? Maybe there’s something we can do to help.”

“Oh no,” said Bored. “You don’t not want to meet one of your alternate reality selves. I did it once and it end very badly. Besides…” Bored shrugged. “They’re done over there. We’re just doing damage control.”

“Damage control?” asked Lotor. “What happened?”

“He knows,” said Bored, pointing at Coran who was crying softly into Matt’s shoulder. “Mel told him.” This caused Coran to start sobbing again.

“Yes, and he’s been blubbering into Matt’s broad, muscular shoulders ever since,” complained Lance.

“Why did you word it that way?” mumbled Keith.

“Go on, Uncle Mustache,” coaxed Bored, “Tell them the sad story.”

“Sad story?” repeated Pidge then she slapped her hand over her mouth and ducked behind Hunk.

“Oh hello, Knowledge Seeker,” said Bored. “I hadn’t noticed your soul hidden behind Builder.”

“So Pidge,” said Matt with a grin. “Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend?”

“No, thank you,” said Pidge, but Hunk scooped her out from behind him. She sighed. “I won’t bother with your names because she’s actually met all of you in your dreams, it’s just you didn’t know it was her, but everyone, this is Bored, Assistant to the Dream Guardian and soul of a thousand AI’s.”

“And one pinball machine,” add Bored.

“Pinball machine?”

“It gained sentience after the realities reset,” said Bored, looking at her nails like none of this was interesting. “Nothing really came back perfect. Irregularities across the board.”

“And how did you two meet?” asked Matt, stretching out the last word.

“Besides in her dreams? Knowledge Seeker stumbled into my realm when searching for the astral plane. I tried to let her friend’s imagination kill her, but she failed to die. Now she only dreams when she has a question for me. My consciousnesses that are capable of human emotion feel something about that. Not sure what...”

Hunk nudged Pidge in the side. “Dude, you are so in.” Pidge was glad Bored could only see her soul and not her face because her cheeks were burning.

“This is fascinating,” said Colleen. “Are you saying that you are the soul for humans as well as well as AIs or that some of your AIs have human emotion?”

“Both,” said Bored. “Not the pinball machine. He’s pure evil. But humans I’m connected with are neurodivergent and don’t always emote the best.”

“Like on the autism spectrum?” asked Colleen.

“Among other atypical brains.”

“Fascinating,” said Colleen.

“We’re off topic here,” said Keith. “Bored, let us through.”

“No. Not going to do that.” Bored shook her head and crossed her arms.

“I said, let us through.” Keith activated his Bayard.

Bored groaned. “Ugh. Threats? Do you honestly think I’d be afraid of you?”

“Hey!” said Lance, pointing his pageant-mom a finger at Bored. “He is plenty scary! You should see him when you put your cold feet on the back of his bare calves when he’s asleep. He will straight up murder you.”

Bored was just looking between Keith and Lance with confusion. “Honestly, I still can’t tell you two apart. Just one soul backing itself up.”

“Perfect metaphor for our relationship,” said Lance with intensity still in his voice.

“No, it’s not,” said Keith.

“No it’s not!” agreed Lance, still just as intense.

“Nonsense,” said Bored with a shake of her head.

“We need another strategy,” said Keith, directly this to the others.

“We need another strategy!” Lance yelled at Bored.

“Stop repeating yourself!” Bored yelled back.

“Lance!” snapped Keith. “Paladin huddle.” 

“Oh, right,” muttered Lance, turning to join the other physical reality people as they converged.

The main six formed a circle in the middle while the rest made a second layer on the outside, which included a sniffing Coran. “Wow,” said Keith, “Much larger crowd than usual. Okay, so obviously asking nicely and threatening her is not getting us past Bored. Should we just all rush her? She can’t kill all of us.”

“Oh!” said Romelle, shooting her hand up. “Let me give it a go. Coran has been teaching me diplomacy.”

“I don’t know…”

“Please, you trusted me with your Lion.”

“Alright,” agreed Keith. “Romelle, you take the lead on this. Everybody, break.”

“Secret received!” said Lance, Pidge, Hunk, Allura, and Shiro. Keith and everyone else stared at them, confused.

“Inside joke,” said Pidge.

“And Shiro’s in on it?” asked Keith, skeptical.

“You missed a lot while you were space whalin’ it up,” said Lance. “Romelle, you’re up.”

The huddle broke apart and the rest hung back as Romelle approached Bored. “So um…,” began Romelle in a casual tone. “We’re going to take off.”

“What?!” gasped Lance. Keith slapped a hand over Lance’s mouth.

“We don’t really see anything interesting happening here.” Romelle turned to the others and mouthed, ‘Act casual.’ Everyone immediately turned away and pretended to become really interested in the ground and the sky.

“That’s not true,” countered Bored. “You haven’t even experienced any of the realm quakes.”

“Realm quakes you say?” repeated Romelle, the tiniest bit of interest hiding in her voice the she switched back to a neutral tone. “Those sound dull.” Just then a distant rumble travelled towards them, growing ever louder until it shook the very ground they stood on. For a moment everyone was unsteady and grabbing on to each other. Romelle lost her cool and her footing, but as soon as the shaking was past, she stood up and went back to acting aloof. “Hmm yes. Dull as I suspected.” Everyone else followed her lead and went from looking freaked out to disinterested. “But if we did get to talk to Mel, we could make it worth your while. Say an autograph from the Blue Paladin? They’re very popular.”

“Don’t try to lowball me,” said Bored. “If we do this, we do this right. I want the souls of your first born children to do with as a wish.” 

“We’ll give you an Altean poem written in iambic pentameter,” countered Romelle, speaking rapidly.

“You will let me give you night terrors every night so bad you sweat until you dehydrate and die,” Bored shot back.

“We’ll give you a 10% of the cut on merch at the next Voltron Musical,” countered Romelle. 

“You will let me give you weekly sexy dream encounters with your fourth grade teacher.” 

“We’ll allow you to give us each one dream a phoebe where we’re falling and never hit the ground.”

“I want to trap your souls in a pocket dimension, shrink it down, and wear it around my neck,” spat Bored.

“We’ll give you the naming rights of the IGF-Atlas.”

Bored smiled. “Throw in the Knowledge Seeker going back to sleeping full nights and you’ve got a deal.”

“Deal,” said Colleen, jumping in and shaking Bored’s hand. “She’ll be getting a solid seven vargas a night if I have anything to say about it.”

“Mom!” groaned Pidge.

“Excellent,” said Bored then she turned to look directly at Shiro. “You’re now the Captain of the SS Kink Bot.” Shiro groaned. “I will now show you to the realm guardian. Right this way.” Bored turned and glided forward towards Mel who’d given up on comforting Adam and had just left him on the floor. Adam stood up when he saw people approaching.

“Oh no,” said Mel as they approached. “Look at you all. Did you leave any crew members back on the Atlas?”

“You mean the Kink Bot?” said Bored.

“Addy!” said Veronica, bursting past the group so she could run at him.

“Roni!” cried Adam, accepting her into a giant hug. “And Colleen!” he said as Colleen strode up and hugged both of them from the side. “I can’t both believe my Earth Ride or Dies are here.”

“Adam,” said Shiro, stepping forward.

“No, uh uh, no,” said Adam. “I literally can’t right now, Takashi.” Then he turned to Mel. “I can’t be near him right now.”

“How is that my problem?” asked Mel. “Just do the thing I showed you and go off on your own.”

Adam reached his arm forward and seemed to grab a piece of the sky behind him then wrapped it across himself, Veronica, and Colleen and then they were gone.

“I taught him that veil trick,” said Mel. “Now why am I needing to deal with all of you when I already have my hands full? I wish you hadn’t figured out that shortcut here. I’d killed the pooch if I didn’t love him so quiznaking much. Come here, ----” Mel said a string of sounds that sounded like a series of hums and wooshes. Kosmo wagged his tail and trotted on over to receive affection and ear scratches from the soul of the former Queen of Altea. Keith attempted to repeat the sounds he’d just heard, testing it out in his mouth. “You’re butchering it,” said Mel frankly.

Keith’s shoulders slumped. “Melenor, I’m sorry we keep showing up like this, but we stopped existing for twelve minutes and we need an explanation. I know you gave Coran one to pass back to us, but it seemed to break him… Plus Bored mentioned you’re working on damage control after whatever happened in the branch off reality. Maybe we can help with that.”

Melenor sighed. “Introduce me to the extras you’ve brought. Who is the rugged one?”

“That’s Keith,” said Lance, pointing at the man who was already in conversation with Mel. “You know Keith.”

“I meant the one cradling Coran in his arms.”

“Bonding moment…,” muttered Keith.

“That’s my brother, Matt,” said Pidge.

“It’s an honour to meet you, my lady,” said Matt. “I see where Allura gets her good looks.”

“Keep it in your pants, Matt,” said Pidge.

“That wasn’t flirting,” protested Matt.

“That’s disappointing,” said Mel. “Who else?”

“Our mom, Colleen, and Lance’s sister, Veronica, are off with Adam,” said Pidge.

“Yes, I’ve heard a lot about them from Adam.”

“This is Acxa, my sister and Krolia, my mom,” said Keith, gesturing to the Galra branch of his family.

“And this is –” began Allura, but she was cut off.

“Lotor,” said Mel, giving him a nod.

“Melenor,” said Lotor, dropping to one knee. “It is an honour to meet you. I have heard many stories of your greatness.”

“And I of yours,” said Melenor. “Your mother was… She was a very dear friend of mine. I deeply regret that her corruption robbed our families of their bond… Let us heal it together with those of us who still can.” Melenor offered out her hand.

Lotor stood and strode forward, a bit of his old certainty and grace reemerging in each step. He clasped her hand and shook it firmly. “Your gesture means the world to me.”

“Lastly,” said Allura, “We have -”

“Romelle,” said Mel, dropping Lotor’s hand. She swooped over and scooped Romelle up into a hug.

“Whoa,” said Hunk. “Mel is hugging someone. I didn’t know Mel gave out hugs.”

“For a daughter of Altea, I do,” said Mel, pulling out of the hug, but keeping her hands on Romelle’s shoulders so she could gaze at her. “One who followed in my footsteps and piloted the Black Lion. And one of only two who didn’t die on the job.”

“It is truly an honour to meet you,” said Romelle. “I always wanted to fly the Black Lion, but thought it was a silly dream. When Allura told me how you had done it, it made me believe it was possible.”

“More than possible,” agreed Melenor.

“Yeah, but she only flew it for like two hours,” said Keith, clearly jealous. First time he met Mel, he was the one being treated special for being her former Lion’s Paladin.

“That is plenty of time,” Mel shot at him.

“Perhaps I never mentioned this,” said Allura to Keith in a whisper, “but my mother was only Black’s Paladin for a couple hours before Zarkon lured her into a battle in the astral plane and murdered her.”

“Oh crap,” said Keith, hiding his face behind his hand.

“Annnnnd, you insulted the boss,” said Lance, slapping a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “That’s really gonna help us get the info we need.”

“Please, Melenor,” said Romelle, taking Mel’s hand. “We can be of service to you if you just let us in.”

“Very well,” said Mel with a sigh. “I don’t have a long time to explain because of the realm quakes so I’ll just give you the broad strokes. You were correct in assuming your alternate reality selves were to blame for your reality being severed and reset. They failed to stop Honerva before she pierced through realities. What’s worse, because her plan to find a reality where she could be happy failed, she sought to seek revenge by destroying every reality in existence.” The Paladins reacted with gasps and astonishment. “And she nearly succeeded. She destroyed all but her own reality at which point your alternate selves were able to talk her down and Allura…” Melenor took a deep breath. “Their Allura convinced Honerva they both needed to sacrifice themselves in order to use their combined quintessence to bring the other realities back.”

“No,” gasped Shiro.

“Allura?” whimpered Lance, looking to his best friend for confirmation.

Allura looked scared, but then resigned. “I would… likely do that. If those were the stakes.”

“So the other Allura…,” said Hunk, tearing up. Coran let out another loud sob.

Lotor gazed at the ground. “I feel so much like this is my fault.”

“It’s not,” said Melenor. “It’s mine.”

Everyone looked up at her, surprised. “How?” asked Shiro.

“The realities branching off,” said Mel. “I must’ve caused it to happen. When I brought you all here through that unconventional gate, it must’ve torn reality itself in two.”

“But you didn’t bring us here,” said Lance.

“We decided to come on our own,” agreed Shiro. “After I had those dreams about Adam.”

“Adam was able to contact you with my permission,” said Mel. “I didn’t care why you came. I wanted you here so I could push Allura into challenging me for the crown and ascending to her full potential. Adam was the bait.”

“I was the gay bait,” said Adam, pulling back his veil so they all could see him, Veronica, and Colleen again. “I knew I was, but I didn’t care. Mel and I made a deal and I didn’t care what there rest of you had to face as long as it meant I’d got to see Takashi again.” Adam spoke to the ground as he said this. Shiro watched him speak with the saddest look. Everyone looked so down trodden. “Mel, didn’t even tell you the worst part,” said Adam.

“There isn’t a worse part than the other version of my daughter dying,” said Mel.

“There is because the B team reality became the reality without happy endings.”

“What does that mean?” asked Acxa.

“It means that Takashi never came here and married me so when some rando named Citrus asked him out, he said yes.”

“Adam…,” began Shiro.

“It also means that when Allura sacrificed herself, she’d been dating Lance.”

“What?” gasped Keith.

“I told you that in confidence,” said Mel, rubbing her temples like she had a headache.

“And right before she sacrificed herself,” continued Adam, “they promised to always love each other.”

“WHAT?!” yelled Keith.

“Ick,” said Allura. “Weird.”

“I don’t…” began Lance, slowly, looking deeply confused.

Keith spun on him. “You’re in love with Allura in another reality?!”

“Well, I don’t mean to be!” said Lance, throwing his hands up. “I can’t speak for myself, but I’m sure… I’m not… happy?” He looked to Mel for help and she just shook her head.

“Lance, how could you?”

“Mmhmm,” agreed Adam. “Sing it, sister!”

“I don’t know how I could,” said Lance. “Because I literally didn’t.”

“I –” began Keith. He stopped himself and looked around at everyone staring at him. “I can’t do this.” He turned and started marching away.

“Yep, me too,” agreed Adam. “Welcome to the rejects club.” He followed right behind Keith’s footsteps.

“Adam, wait!” said Shiro at the same time Lance said, “Keith, babe, c’mon!”

“You better go talk to him,” said Veronica.

“I know!” said Shiro and Lance in unison. They looked at each other in surprise then both turned and stalked after their soul mates.

“Jokes on you, Keith!” yelled Lance. “Because our connected soul just tugs me right along after you in this realm!”

“I feel so bad,” muttered Allura, turning to Lotor. “I can’t even imagine telling Lance I love him. We’re beasties. We’re not in love.”

Lotor, however, held no sympathy. “So… You dated Lance immediately after me?”

“Uh…” Allura began to sweat.

“You were dead,” said Bored, popping in beside Lotor.

“That makes it worse,” argued Lotor.


	49. They don't love you like I love you *BONUS CHAPTERS*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Shiro have some explaining to do.

Shiro and Lance followed after Adam and Keith as they stormed across the infinite landscape.

“Can you please talk to us,” said Shiro.

“Yeah, ‘cause technically we didn’t do anything wrong,” said Lance.

It was Adam that spun on Lance. “That’s the approach you’re going to take? Seriously?”

“Lance, maybe don’t talk,” said Shiro.

“Oh no,” said Keith, coming back to join the conversation. “I would like to hear Lance’s take on how he’s completely innocent.”

“I didn’t say that. Keith, c’mon. You must know you’re overreacting.”

“We’re not overreacting! You’re underreacting!” shot Adam.

“How are we supposed to react?” cried Lance.

“With extreme horror!” said Adam. “With a desperate need to dissect the exact circumstances as to how you two would be willing to be with any one other than us.”

“Yours was just a date,” said Keith, eyeballing Adam. “Lance pledged his undying love to Allura.”

“Kid, c’mon,” said Adam. “We’re on the same team here. Solidarity. Now upgrade your hissy fit by deliberately calling his other reality bae by wrong name then storm off.”

Keith turned back to Lance and said, “I hope your other self is very happy with Allur… Allur… ing? Ugh! C’mon! Why does her name literally mean attractive?” Keith turned and stormed away.

“Yas, queen, yas!” cheered Adam, clapping after Keith.

Lance slumped forward, honestly wanting a break from the fighting, but then he felt that familiar tug in his gut and realized he had to follow.

It was a long walk before Keith finally stopped, seemingly too fed up to keep going, but he wouldn’t turn to face him and Lance doubted he was suddenly going to grab him and make out with him like last time they were in this exact situation.

“Keith, please,” said Lance. “I get that this is a shock and it sucks, but they aren’t us. We’re us and I need help understanding why what they do hurts you this badly.”

“Because it makes me feel like our love was just a fluke,” said Keith, speaking to the ground in front of him. “That if Alfor hadn’t brought us to the memory realm and created the exact right circumstances for you to tell me your feelings. We never would’ve happened. “

“Keith, I love you,” said Lance. “In every reality.”

“That’s only because we soul merged and you have to love me. But… there are realities where that wasn’t meant to be true.”

“It was true in the B reality though, Keith. I fell in love with you long before Alfor forced me to say it. Honestly, I’m sad for the other me that he never got a chance to be with you. But I’m really sad to that Allura’s dead, not because she was my girlfriend, but because she’s my best friend and I want her alive in every reality.”

“It’s not even about Allura. Not completely. I’m not even that disappointed in you,” confessed Keith. “I’m mad at myself. Even in this reality I never put myself out there with you. You had to come to me.”

“Well, you had some pretty thick walls up. So did I, but we’re still young and maybe in the other reality we get ourselves sorted out and learn how to be open with each other.”

“I hope so. Thinking of living without you shouldn’t make me this sad, but it does. And I know I should be sad for Allura dying and I am. Honestly, I feel terrible for making this about me, but you mean so much to me that I feel like my heart is breaking.”

Lance pulled Keith into a hug from behind. Keith let out a little gasp at the suddeny contact. “Keith, Bored explained to us that our souls merging would mean we’d be drawn to each other in every reality. But we also knew that is countless realities we wouldn’t be together. That’s why we talked about it and decided we couldn’t worry about the other realities. We needed to focus on ours because we deserve to be happy and we need to trust the rest of us to figure out their own problems.”

“That was easier when I couldn’t picture those realities. Having one so close to this one…”

Lance lay his chin on Keith’s shoulder. “I know. It’s frustrating. We both started so closed off, neither willing to admit our feelings. We really did need to be forced into coming clean, but that doesn’t make us a fluke. It makes us special. I can’t tell you what I’m thinking in the other reality, but I do know that this is my happiest reality.”

“How can you be sure?” asked Keith, softening and wrapping his own arms across Lance’s.

“Because having you support me makes me feel like I can do anything,” said Lance.

“And you believing in me kept me strong,” said Keith. “Even when Honerva tried to corrupt me. There was a spark left in me that only you could reach.”

“Honerva can invade your mind, but she can’t have your heart. That belongs to me.”

“You know it,” said Keith.

“And my heart belongs to you in every reality,” added Lance. “Even the ones where I’m too stupid to give it to you.”

Keith turned his head so their lips could meet in a kiss. It had been awhile since he’d kissed without their bodies. It was different, smoother, but deeper somehow and completely perfect. Keith pulled back enough to he could spin around in Lance’s arms and wrap himself around him properly before diving back in again. Lance knew this wasn’t exactly the right moment for a makeout session, but he felt this strange mix of sadness and neediness, knowing he’d lost someone special to him in the B reality and that he didn’t even have Keith to take comfort in. Lance wished he could correct this, was in fact trying to kiss Keith so intensely he could send a message through their shared soul that every version of them needed to get a room and quick. Based on the little whimper Keith let out, it was working…

“Are you two interfacing?” asked Bored, popping into existence at the exact wrong moment. Lance and Keith jumped apart.

“Interfacing?” repeated Keith and Lance.

“No wait. Mixed those up. Intercoursing,” said Bored. “Are you making intercourse right now?”

“Yes,” lied Keith. “Can we have a minute?”

“Fine. I’ll check in on the other gays.” Bored popped off.

*******

As soon as Keith and Lance had walked away, Adam had pulled the night sky across himself and sealed himself away from Shiro. Now Shiro was left looking at the blank spot where he knew Adam was hiding.

“Adam, please come back out so we can talk about this!” Nothing. “Fine. I’m coming in after you.” Shiro could do this. He had a connection with the astral plane and if Adam could manipulate it, so could Shiro.

He reached out his robotic prosthetic arm and groped at the air. Nothing. He switched to his human arm, the one sporting his wedding ring. He reached out felt through his fingertips until he found a tiny gap in the fabric of the realm and pulled until he drew it across like a shower curtain opening. There was Adam again, sitting cross-legged on the ground, facing away from Shiro.

“Way to intrude,” muttered Adam.

“I’m sorry for not giving you space,” said Shiro, “but I doubt Mel’s going to let me stay long. I wanna hear your thoughts on this. Even if you haven’t calmed down yet.”

Adam’s posture was tense, his shoulders shrugged up to his ears. “You only learned I was dead a few months ago,” whimpered Adam.

“Adam, I’m sorry. It does seem rushed for me to be dating again. I don’t know how I feel ready to do that,” said Shiro. “I wish I had a real explanation for you.”

“It’s not like…,” sniffed Adam, “It’s not like I haven’t been meaning to talk to you about the possibility of you dating again.”

“What are you saying?” asked Shiro. “I’m married to you.”

“But I’m dead, Takashi,” said Adam, looking down at his lap, “and that comes with a whole lot of not being able to be there for you. I just… If you would have a happier life sharing it with another person then I want that for you. Just not so soon…”

“Adam,” said Shiro, kneeling down behind his husband. “Our limitations as a couple don’t scare me. I’m happiest being emotionally close with you and we can do that now. The physical presence stuff, I don’t need to be happy.”

“But you could have it,” said Adam, still facing away. “Mel says we’re soul mates so our souls will always be together even if we’re not in physical reality.”

“I appreciate you putting my needs first,” said Shiro. “But… you’re irreplaceable.”

“Except by Curtain.”

“Adam, I can’t know for sure, but you know me pretty well -”

“Better than Curtain.”

“Yes, and you know I tend to avoid tough emotions. There was so much in my life I only was able to face because you helped me through it. Heck, if I hadn’t met you I’d probably still be in the closet, getting divorced from a sham marriage to woman while ignoring my health problems until it was too late… If I am able to live through being abducted by aliens, forced to fight in the gladiator pits, dying - I’ve lost count of how many times - and fighting to end an intergalactic war and then I’m still able to do something as average as say yes to a date, that’s only because you helped me become the strongest version of myself.”

“You’re twisting it so this is my fault?” mumbled Adam.

“Adam…” sighed Shiro.

“Sorry, go on.”

“You made me the best possible version of myself so can you really blame me if other guys noticed that?”

“You were always hot,” said Adam, peeking over his shoulder. “But you weren’t always approachable. That was me. I warmed you up to people.”

“You did so much for me, Adam…” Oh no, Shiro was starting to cry.

“I made you gay,” joked Adam, wiping a tear away from his own eye. “I basically invented you.”

Shiro couldn’t help himself. He practically dove at Adam as he wrapped his arms around his front and pulled him up against his chest. “I feel sorry for the other Shiro. He never got to see you again, hear your voice again… Marry you. This is my perfect reality because I’m your husband.”

“Takashi…,” hummed Adam in his softest voice. Shiro could never tire of Adam using his given name. It had never felt like it belonged to him until rolled off Adam’s tongue that night on the Garrison dorms rooftop... “Fine. I’ll stop being dramatic. You win.”

“Honestly, I feel so bad for the other Shiro.”

Adam bristled. “Tread lightly now,” he warned.

“I do because he’s missing you and blaming himself for you death.”

“Hold up, Takashi, why would you blame yourself for my death?” asked Adam, turning his head so he could look at Shiro.

Shiro looked down at the ground. “Because you were killed by Sendak’s forces.” Shiro paused, having thought this so many times but never having said it out loud. “A year earlier I had Sendak trapped, unconscious… I could’ve ended it there. If I’d had the guts to kill him.”

“Then you wouldn’t be the man I love,” said Adam, reaching and hand back to wrap behind Shiro’s neck. “The man with the strongest moral compass I’ve ever seen.”

“Should morals matter in war? When millions of innocent people died because of my failure to break the rules of battle?”

“Don’t do that, Takashi. Don’t put the monstrosities he committed on your shoulders. That blood is not on your hands. It was and always will be on his. You’re not to blame for my death. And, once again, I’m not sorry I’m dead. It brought us back together in a strange way.”

“It did,” said Shiro.

“The only thing I miss is being physical with you,” said Adam, leaning to one side then spinning on his butt to face Shiro. He always moved with such grace in life and in death.

“We can still dance though,” said Shiro, popping up to stand. He took Adam’s hands and pulled him to standing. “Bet Curtain doesn’t have your moves.”

Adam laughed, pressing himself against Shiro and letting him lead in swaying back and forth. “You know he’s not named Curtain or Citrus, right?”

“Sure, but you haven’t given me a name yet.”

“I think you could guess if you tried. I’m only slightly altering his name and I keep watching your face because I want to see the moment you realize who I’m talking about.”

Shiro was so confused he stopped dancing. “Wait… So I know him?”

“Yep. Think about it,” pressed Adam.

“I’d rather not. This seems like a tra – ahhhh. I just figured it out.”

“Careful what you say next, Takashi,” warned Adam, narrowing his eyes. “You will be graded on your reaction.”

Shiro’s mouth was hanging open. How to respond…? “Me and Curtis, huh? Can’t see it.”

“Ha!”

“Maybe other reality me is still an ‘evil clone.’”

“Same exact clone that you are.”

“Maybe I agreed to date him on a bet?”

“Oh, I like that one,” chuckled Adam, “but we’ve watched every bet-based rom com together. We both know they all end in love.”

“Honestly, Adam, I wish you hadn’t told me,” sighed Shiro. “Now every time I see the guy, which is literally all day everyday, I’m going to wonder what I was thinking…”

“That’s the attitude I want,” said Adam, then, “but don’t ever figure it out, okay?”

“Figure out what I would see in Curtain? Never. Some mysteries are better left unsolved.”

“We’ll go with that for now,” said Adam, pulling Shiro back up against him so they could resume dancing.

Something was still bothering Shiro. “Can I ask you something? Why did you reach out to me and not the Shiro in the other reality?”

“Mel, never told me the realities had branched until the realm quakes started. I guess she only needed to bring one group of you here to succeed in her plan to have Allura coronate.”

“Yeah, she completely left the other reality unchecked,” said Bored, popping into existence beside them. “Though really I don’t understand why you all keep getting upset over who is dating who in the physical realities. Lives don’t matter. They barely count for anything. Souls matter. Being soul mated matters. Eternity matters.”

“That’s true,” agreed Shiro. “We’ll always have eternity together in the After.”

“Yeah, it’s nice,” agreed Bored. “Too bad eternity is ending.”

Adam gasped, “Evil android soul says what?”


	50. Hidden in Plain Sight *BONUS CHAPTERS*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the big gap between updates over the holidays.

Chapter 50 - Hidden in Plain Sight

“Forgive me if he was nice to me after you died. Forgive me for valuing kindness,” argued Allura because apparently they were going to have this fight right then and there instead of walking off from the main group like the disaster gays.

“I’m not surprised by worthiness,” argued Lotor. “I’m surprised by the timing.”

“Allura,” scolded Melenor. “He’s baiting you. You do not need to explain your actions to him. However foolhardy they were…”

“Careful, Allura,” said Acxa. “He’ll manipulate you into exactly the reaction he wants from you.”

“Acxa,” began Lotor only to be met with her refusing to meet his eye. In fact she had yet to speak directly to him since his return. “Acxa?” Acxa stuck up her nose and walked away. “What was that?” he asked to nobody in particular.

“That,” said Lance’s sister, drawing Lotor attention, “is the fight you’re actually in.” Then he nodded her head for him to follow her.

Lotor sighed, resigning himself to the fact that this was indeed the fight he needed to have. Since his return he thought the most difficult thing would be re-earning the Paladin’s trust. He’d neglected to worry about Acxa’s trust. She’d always fallen back in line at a moment’s notice. He’d really taken advantage of her loyalty in the past… Indeed, he needed to speak to her. He followed, taking long strides in order to catch up with her.

“Acxa, please. If I could just explain...”

“No,” said Acxa, spinning back around. “I’m tired of you explaining yourself because all it ever is, is you manipulating me back on your side. All that time following you blindly and never standing up to you. I regret it. Well, I’m standing up to you now. You pulled me from that orphanage and raised me to believe you were my Messiah. Taught me never to question you and I was foolish enough to keep silent no matter where your treachery led me. I never even spoke up when you murdred Narti in front of me.”

“She was a clone of Narti, but yes I can understand what that looked like… I behaved like such a beast, earning loyalty through fear.”

“I used to think you saved me, but you were the worst thing that ever happened to me. You took my self-hatred and you fed it so it spread to the rest of the universe. I could’ve been good. I could’ve been good from the start, but every instinct you instilled in me, I must fight now.”

“Acxa, I understand anything I say will seem like a manipulation so I will attempt to be plain with my words. I learned at a very young age that to obtain something I wanted, I could never go for it directly. I needed to by sly and deceptive even if I believed what I was after was for the greater good. I realize that habit became more and more harmful as I went on. I even began to believe that the ends justified the means, no matter what means I took. My twisting of you to make you like me was one of my gravest mistakes. I very much wish I could go back to the start and do it over again, but I can’t. 

“I can, however, make the most of this second life I’ve been given. I always saw greatness in you, Acxa. This is why I chose you to stand by my side. If you wish me to keep my distance, I shall, but I hope in some way you can find a way to have a relationship with me.”

“By following you, you mean?” scoffed Acxa.

“No Acxa,” said Lotor, getting down on his knees, “By me following you. You were the best of all of us. I would trust you with me life.”

“Stand up,” said Acxa. “I don’t want your loyalty. I will, however, be willing to test out occasionally speaking to you again.”

“That is far greater than I deserve,” said Lotor, standing. “Thank you.”

*******

“Hey, I think your boyfriend just proposed to your girlfriend,” said Hunk, speaking to Allura and Veronica. They were watching the argument from a distance as Melenor had left to, ‘Do something secret. Stop asking!’

“He is not my boyfriend,” said Allura at the same time Veronica shrugged and said, “That’s cool.”

“You’re just cool with your girlfriend marrying someone else?”

“Hey, as long as I’m part of the package deal and she doesn’t turn around and dump me, it’s all good. I’m in a trouple and Acxa’s also already in a trouple. Then together we’re a couple. It’s kismet,” said Veronica. “The more the merrier really.”

“So you’re in a poly relationship?” Matt asked out of curiosity.

“Yes and thank you for asking without a judgmental tone,” said Veronica. “You have no clue how close minded humans can be.”

“Traditionally, Galra rarely mate for life,” said Acxa, returning with Lotor. “We’re a warrior race and are realistic in knowing that having a partner could mean losing them at any moment.”

“Galra often form romantic relationships in groups, rather than couples,” said Krolia. “These groups of adults raise their collective children as one family unit. That way as loved ones fall in battle, there are adults left to raise the children.”

“Yet despite this,” said Acxa, “my brother and I both found ourselves raised in orphanages and forter care.” She looked over at her mother, but Krolia was looking around, not paying attention. “What’s wrong? Have I upset you?”

Hunk and Pidge squinted at Krolia. “How can you tell?” asked Pidge.

“It’s not you,” said Krolia with a sigh. “The first time Keith came here he saw your father. I did hope I might see him here.”

“Last time Melenor had him waiting here,” said Hunk, “but it was Blaytz who must’ve brought him.”

“Mel is the keeper of the veil between the astral plane and the After,” said Pidge, “but she doesn’t have the ability to open the veil and summon souls.”

“But I do,” said Allura. “Allow me to try.” Allura’s eyes went pure white as she reached out her arm in her summoning stance. Hunk and Pidge had seen her summon before and knew the process which is why they were the first to cry out in shock when they saw her drop.

“Allura!” It was Lotor who moved fast enough to catch her in his arms only to then cry out in pain himself and drop them both down to their knees.

“Lotor?” gasped Acxa.

“Ah,” whimpered Veronica, grabbing her head.

“Veronica!” Acxa caught her girlfriend before she fell herself.

“What’s going on?” asked Colleen.

“Allura?” squeaked Romelle, her voice filled with worry as she knelt beside her and put her arm around her. Coran, did the same.

“I’m fine,” muttered Allura. “I just can’t seem to move the veil.”

“What happened?” demanded Melenor, swooping in. She looked down at her daughter and scolded her, “You cannot attempt summoning right now. The realms are far too fragile!”

“Fragile?” repeated Allura.

There was a distant rumble and this time they all knew what to expect and braced themselves before it grew louder and shook the ground beneath them. It was stronger this time, forcing them to grab onto each other for balance. Even Mel grabbed Matt to steady herself. Once the quake passed, she stood up straight again. “Bored!” snapped Mel. Bored popped into existence before her. “Go check on the After.”

Bored popped off then popped right back in. “It’s great,” said Bored.

“Thank the goddess,” said Mel.

“The sink hole keeps getting bigger and bigger.”

“Sink hole?” cried Mel.

“Yeah, the big one in the middle threatening to suck all the souls in existence into oblivion.” 

Mel was fuming. “What?!”

“Oh, is that not normal?”

“No, it is not normal! Are you telling me this whole time I’ve been having you check on the After and you’ve been saying it’s fine when really there was a sinkhole growing?”

“How was I supposed to know that was weird? I’d never gone to the After before Blaytz went missing.”

“Blaytz is missing?” gasped Allura, finally able to stand up under her own power.

“He is not,” said Mel. “I know exactly where he is. Where everyone is. Bored, check on the other realms and report sinkholes to me.”

“Sir, yes sir!” said Bored with a sarcastic salute before popping off.

“Where everyone is?” questioned Allura. “Mother, are the other Guardians not in their realms?”

“Unfortunately not,” said Mel.

“Where are they?”

“Well, if you must know” grumbled Mel, drawing back a piece of the sky like a curtain and revealing four bodies lying on the ground. “They’re right here.”

“The other Guardians,” gasped Hunk.

“Father!” said Allura at the same time Coran found his voice and cried, “Alfor!” They both moved to his side but couldn’t get closer as there was a field of energy around their motionless bodies.

“What happened to them?” asked Allura.

“Honerva used alchemy to draw them from their realms and entrap them in her own mind,” said Melenor, looking down at them sadly. “They forgot who they were, forgot who they are now. The other non-physical realms had no active Guardians. Since I died here, I’m forever confined to the astral plane therefore I had to send Bored around to run things.”

“Heard my name,” said Bored, popping back in beside Mel. “There wasn’t much to run once the realities started getting destroyed. Nearly all the souls disappeared from the After. It was chaos. I loved it.” Everyone stared at her in horror. “Well, then souls came back. But the sinkhole kept growing.”

“Is that what’s causing the realm tremors?” asked Hunk. “The lack of realm Guardians.”

“No,” said Mel. “But I can’t think about that now. It’s taking all of my energy just to heal them. I’m still weak from my coronation battle with Allura.”

“Let me help,” said Allura, stepping up. She held out her hand and white healing light poured out from it, disintegrating Melenor’s energy fields and replacing them with sparkling light. Within moments the Paladins of Old were stirring and waking up. “Father,” said Allura, dropping to her knees beside him.

“Alfor!” said Coran, doing the same on the former King’s other side.

“I suppose that’s the difference between my powers and those of Life Givers,” muttered Melenor.

“Allura,” said Alfor, touching his daughter’s face. “But… you were gone…”

“That was a me in a different reality, father,” said Allura, tears misting her eyes.

“I forgot about other realities. I forgot about all of it.” Alfor turned his head and spotted Coran. His eyes lit up. “Coran…? I can’t believe it’s you, my love.”

“Alfor,” wept Coran, taking him by the shoulders and pulling him in for a hug. Alfor had other ideas, planting a kiss directly on Coran’s lips.


	51. Other things that must've happened *BONUS CHAPTERS*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This flashback demanded to be told.

“These outfits are itchy,” commented Honerva, tugging at the collar of her cape.

“They’re necessary,” said Coran, slapping her hand so she’d stop fidgeting. “We can’t have the public know the Prince is sitting in the audience of the Grestation Battles.”

“Then explain why I am in disguise,” said Honerva, shifting around on the old wooden bench. She was sitting on her cape and couldn’t figure out how to get off of it.

“So we match,” snapped Coran, bristling.

“Relax, Nerva,” said Alfor with a good humoured chuckle. “Get into the spirit of it.”

“My spirit, Alfor,” said Honevera, “has never been tempted by battle.”

“It was your idea to come here,” he countered.

“Because you tasked me with job of finding the greatest female warrior in all of Altea. According to my research, only the top ranked fighters on the planet are invited to battle inside the Tarsand Pits.”

“But these battles aren’t even legal,” protested Coran. “Battles to the death were outlawed milliphoebs ago.”

“Yet the more rural areas of Altea never gave up the tradition,” said Honerva.

“If anything, Alfor,” said Coran, “You should take this opportunity to reveal your true identity and shut these battles down.”

Alfor chuckled. “And waste these wonderful disguises of yours Coran.” Alfor patted Coran on the shoulder, smiling his million watt smile. “Besides, the task of finding myself a worthy wife is pressing.”

“I don’t understand why you must marry so soon,” said Coran. “You’re barely five hundred.”

“You know my parents as well as I,” said Alfor. “They’ve set their minds on passing the kingdom on to me within the next decaphoeb. Therefore I must find a wife.”

“The law states that if the blood heir to the throne possesses the gifts of alchemy,” said Honerva, “then they must form a breeding pair with Altea’s greatest warrior.”

“And thanks to Honerva’s research,” said Alfor, “We are taking that law literally.”

“If it is statistically possible to take a law literally, logic dictates we should follow said path.”

 

“I don’t like any of this,” said Coran, despair saturating his voice.

“Objection duly noted,” said Alfor, wrapping a reassuring arm around Coran’s shoulders. “Now attempt to enjoy the spectacle. If nothing else it shall be quite the show.”

Alfor did not remove his arm, but kept it comfortably resting around Coran’s shoulders as he often did when they sat side by side. Coran resumed his centuries old bad habit of reading far too much into the physical contact.

“Tell us about the contestants,” said Alfor, looking ahead to the warriors who were currently at their leisure around the rim of the tarsand pit. Some were stretching while other’s were prepping their weapons. “Who is this one here?” asked Alfor, pointing to the large burly man swinging a giant axe around in front of them.

“What does it matter?” asked Coran. “Even if he wins, you can’t marry him. He has to be a woman. What will you do if a man wins?”

“I suppose marry the a runner up, which ever highest ranked one is female.”

“It’s a fight to the death, Alfor,” said Honerva, “There won’t be any runner ups.”

Coran shouldn’t have taken any joy from the idea of fifteen people about to die in front of him. It did however mean that if a man won, Alfor would leave here without a fiancé. “What is this one’s name then?” asked Coran, his interest suddenly peaked. He wanted to know the name of the man he’d be silently routing for.

“I’m afraid they don’t go by names,” said Honerva, checking her tablet. “Bred warriors only go by rank. Furthermore, as per the rules of this competition, deadliness of weapon corresponds to rank.”

“Based on the size of that axe,” said Alfor, “this must be number One.”

“Actually,” said Honerva, “The deadlier the weapon, the lower the rank. This evens the playing field. Makes it a better fight. This man here would be ranked number Sixteen.”

“Then what kind of weapon does number One get? A pocket knife?”

“Number One gets no weapon,” said Honerva.

“Hardly seems sporting,” said Alfor. Coran was scanning the warriors, trying to spot the one who was weaponless and hoping again it was a man. “There’s number One,” said Alfor with pep in his voice, having found them first. “She’s pretty, isn’t she?” Coran had to follow his gaze to find her. She was fit looking, blond, and pale, concentrating on stretching out her muscular arms.

“Her features meet traditional Altean beauty standards,” said Honerva.

“That’s one way to agree with me,” chuckled Alfor. Coran’s heart sank. “I know who my gak is on.” A horn sounded and the warriors came to stand along the outer rim of the pit. They stood there, motionless. “What are they waiting for? Let’s get this show on the road.” He looked at Honerva for an explanation, but she just shrugged.

That’s when a man walked out from between the stands. He was carrying a sack over his shoulder, no not a sack, an Altean, a woman. He set her down at the very edge of the pit and this is when Coran got a better look at the woman. Her white hair and dark skin reminded him of his Alfor. The remarkable thing about her though was that she was bound and gagged.

“What is the meaning of this?” boomed Alfor. “Why is she being treated so?”

“My mistake,” said Honerva, consulting her tablet. “Apparently weaponless is not the handicap of the number one warrior. Starting the battle tied up is.”

“Nonsense. She is smaller than an Balcluvian Tiprel Pup and she’s being treated like a prisoner,” said Alfor, his voice steeped in concern.

“Or like a dangerous animal,” said Honerva, a small smile on her lips. “This may just be for the safety of the other warriors.”

Two sharp blasts from the horn this time and the man who had carried in the number One warrior pushed her into the pit. The other fifteen, most with weapons, leapt in under their own power as the battle officially began.

Looking from the stands down into the pit, it was difficult to follow the battle, especially when the blood began spraying in the air and the warriors became covered in tar and mud with slicks of red staining them. Coran felt certain number One had been the first to fall given she started the battle tied up. That was until he recognized a streak of white hair as a mud caked woman ripped the axe from number sixteen’s hands, tossed it to the side and drove the point of her elbow straight into the man’s eye socket. His scream drowned out the cheers from the audience which was quite the feat at the crowd was in a frenzy.

Engrossed in watching number One kick Sixteen to the ground and step on his neck, Alfor leaned forward. As he did so, he removed his arm from Coran’s shoulders. Coran felt the absence of that arm like a night sky without the stars.

******

Number One had number Two by the throat. Screams of, “Finish her” repeated from every corner of the stands. Beneath the feet of the two remaining warriors were the bodies of numbers Three through Sixteen. Dead or just broken, it was impossible to tell. Who killed who was an even greater mystery. In the pit it didn’t matter it. It was a culture of kill or be killed. Now however, there was opportunity for mercy.

“She’s clearly won,” said Alfor. “Can it not end here? I’d rather not see another death.” What Coran knew he meant was he didn’t want to see the woman he hoped to marry kill another in cold blood. What a thing to picture on their wedding night. 

“Won’t she show mercy?” agreed Coran.

“Mercy is one thing,” said Honerva, “But a Warrior Royal must command Altea’s army and what good is a soldier unwilling to kill?”

“I forget how dark you can be, my friend,” said Alfor, “but point taken.”

Number Two’s neck made a cracking sound as it broke. The crowd broke out in applause and cheers. Number One dropped the body in the muck and climbed out of the pit. Emerging victorious was one way to put it, clawing out of a pit of death was another way. The moment she was out, the Alteans in the stands collectively poured out of their seats, towards the pit. Honerva, Coran, Alfor stayed put, unsure as to what was occurring. They watched as the crowds picked up handfuls of dirt and threw them into the pit. They repeated this process over and over.

“It’s a mass grave,” muttered Coran. Honerva and Alfor weren’t easily rattled, but Coran was a sensitive soul. He hated this. Hated what he’d just witnessed. Hated what he was seeing. If only he knew he how much he would hate what happened next…

“Congratulations,” boomed Alfor, vaulting out of his seat, walking straight up to the victor. 

For all the audience had cheered for her earlier, she was not getting any attention now. They were too busy burying the dead. One was deliberately turned away from the scene, staring off into the distance, calming her breathing. Alfor’s voice seemed to draw her out of her head, her eyes focusing in on him as if he were her next threat. Her body language said it all.

“Didn’t mean to startle you,” said Alfor. Though she didn’t look startled, she looked ready to kill again. Alfor pulled down the hood of his cape. “My name is Prince Alfor and I mean you know harm. In fact,” he said, dropping down to one knee. “I intend to marry you. If you will have me.”

“Alfor,” gasped Coran, shocked by his boldness. Yes, if there was one word to describe Alfor, it was ‘bold.’ However, Coran had never expected him to propose to a woman whose voice he hadn’t even heard yet.

Number One’s expression stayed the same, as if she were making a calculation, as if his marriage proposal was no different than a threat against her life. Suddenly they’d found the attention of others around them as the Alteans turned to see their Prince kneeling in front of their greatest warrior.

Her voice was soft yet commanding. “Stand up.” There were many witnesses to Prince Alfor taking an order from a woman he’d just met as he came to stand, his face no longer cocky, but unsure. The woman took a step closer to him, turning her ear to him as if he had something interesting to share with her. “You will be King?”

“Yes.”

“Your wife will be Queen?”

“Yes.”

“And you are an Alchemist?”

“In need a of warrior spouse as is the Altean law.”

“Your Queen will have command of your army?”

“In wartime, yes, she will be Captain.”

The woman nodded in understanding. She repositioned her body, so it stood strong and sturdy in front of the Prince. She offered out her hand, bloody and covered in mud and tar. “I accept the terms of your marriage proposal.”

Alfo, took her filthy hand with both of his and gave it a hearty pump. “Very good,” he said, joy returning to his voice.” He turned outwards towards his subjects and said, “Let it be known. Your Prince has chosen a bride.”

The clapping started, tentative at first. The unorthodox method of engagement being to blame for the hesitance of the witnesses, but soon the applause gained confidence.

“That was quick,” said Honerva, saying what literally everyone was thinking.

“Who are you and why do you feel fit to comment?” asked number One, setting her eyes on Honerva.

“Ah, yes,” said Alfor with a grin. “These are my associates Honerva and Coran.” Honerva nodded. Coran hadn’t figured out how to move yet. He wondered if he managed to smile. He doubted it. “My friends, this is my bride, uh… I’m sorry. I did not catch your name.”

“My rank is One,” said the woman.

“And your name?”

“I was given a rank. I was never given a name.” If someone else had told you this, you might feel sorry for them. However, One stated this as if a rank were better.

“That won’t do,” said Alfor with a soft chuckle. “May I name you?”

“If you must,” said the woman, deadpan.

“How about Melenor? It was my great grandmother’s name. She was -”

“The greatest warrior Altea’s ever known,” said the newly dubbed Melenor.

“Ah, you’ve heard of her.”

“She is a legend in these parts. I will be worthy of the name.” Coran noticed she didn’t say she would attempt to be worthy, but simply stated she would be worthy. Apparently her and Alfor had one thing in common: endless confidence. “Now if you don’t mind, you’ll need to carry me to a healing pod. I imagine I’m a few doboshes away from heart failure due to blood loss.”

“Excuse me?” said Alfor, confused. 

That’s when Melenor fell, losing a battle with gravity no one realized she’d been having. She fainted and dropped sideways, directly into Honerva’s arms. Coran wasn’t used to Honerva being rattled, but when that muddy, bloody slip of a woman dropped into her arms, her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open.

“She’s been stabbed,” said Alfor, now having a clear view of Melenor’s back. 

“It’ll be infected from the mud,” said Honerva. “We best move fast.”

*******

How does one break free when dropped into a tarsand pit with your arms tied behind their back and fifteen Alteans ready to slay you? The answer is get stabbed. Strategically stabbed, mind you. Let them cut through your ties as they cut you’re your body then proceed to fight through the pain and the blood loss until you are the sole victor.

Number One remembered three things when she woke up in the healing pod. Her name was now Melenor, she was to be Queen of Altean, and soft, clever eyes.  
What a happy coincidence that those same soft, clever eyes met hers when she awoke.

“You’re lucky to be alive,” said the woman named Honerva. “Grestatia doesn’t have the medical facilities capable of treating your infection.”

“Dead or alive, those are our only two options,” said Melenor, taking careful steps out of the healing pod.

“When you put it that way…,” said Honerva, remaining at her desk, offering no assistance.

“It’s the only way it’s every been put to me. Attachment to life would mean self-preservation. Self-preservation would’ve held me back and gotten me killed.”

“How ironic,” said Honerva, gesturing to a chair in front of her desk. “I’ll call for food and water. You need to regain your strength.”

“Do so in a moment,” said Melenor, lowering herself into the chair. “First, tell me of the man I agreed to marry. Certainly he is good looking, charming, and confident, but is he noble? Is he kind?”

“Yes, on both accounts. He is one of my oldest friends. Certainly one of my dearest.”

“Is he fit to lead Altea?”

“With the right partner he is,” said Honerva, being quite honest. “He could use someone… serious.” A lot could be read into that.

“Do you approve of his choice in brides?”

“I helped him pick you,” said Honerva. Ah, yes, the brains behind the operation.

“I would claim you have excellent taste, however, you do not truly know me.”

“I imagine that will change.”

“Yes,” agreed Melenor. “I imagine it will. Now what of this other friend of Alfor’s? Will he be a problem for me?”

“Coran is a very good man… And, yes, he’s going to be a problem for you.”

 

******

Melenor had changed into her royal robes when Coran came to visit her in her new chambers. She was inspecting them in the mirror and by that of course she was practicing kicking in them.

“Ahem, excuse my intrusion,” said Coran, bowing lightly in the doorway, his hands behind his back.

“Oh, hello, Corin,” said Melenor. “Did I leave that open or did you enter without knocking?”

“It’s Coran, mum, and it was open. May I say you look nice in your royal vestments. Are they to your liking?”

“I like the colour,” said Melenor, turning back to the mirror.

“Yes, well, I hate to break this to you, but normally the pink robes are reserved for funerals.”

“Not anymore,” said Melenor casually. “I’ll take all my clothes in pink. Let the seamstress know, won’t you?”

“Very well, mum,” said Coran, giving another bow.

“Was there something you wanted… Coran, was it?”

“Actually, I have something for you,” said Coran, taking the bouquet of Juniberry flowers from behind his back and presenting them to her.

Melenor smiled without her eyes. “I assume this was meant as a nice gesture, however, in Grestatia, where I’m from, we only present Juniberry flower as a challenge to a duel.”

“I’m well aware of the tradition,” said Coran, his tone serious.

“Ah,” said Melenor, only now accepting the bouquet. “Tell me, what do you challenge me for?”

“For Alfor’s heart.”

Melenor waved this off. “Alfor’s heart is his own. I could no more give you one of Altea’s moons were you to beat in battle.”

“In that case, if I defeat you, I ask that you break off your engagement.”

Melenor locked eyes with Coran, considering him. “Now what would be the point of that? You cannot have him. He is bound by Altean law. He must marry into a breeding pair. You cannot bare his child. It will never be you.”

It hurt to hear it out loud. “That may be so, but my heart continues to fight for the impossible.”

So I’m not the first woman of his you’ve threatened,” said Melenor. “How many have you scared off before me?”

“The number is not important,” said Coran, trying to hide his embarrassment. “You, however, are the first he’s actually proposed to.”

“I imagine Alfor must suspect you’re doing this. Perhaps that is why he proposed so quickly.”

“Perhaps.”

“I am not like the others. I am not here for Alfor’s looks or his charms or his riches. I have no taste for the finer things.” To illustrate this Melenor picked up a small statue from a table in the center of the room and dropped it on the ground. It shattered.

Coran gasped. “That was a four thousand year old bust made from Echade Porceline!”

“Now it’s just rocks,” said Melenor, kicking off her shoes and walking across the broken shards, completely straight faced. Yes, she was crazy. “I do not want looks that fade or pretty things that break. I want one thing. I want command of the Altean army.”

“I can pull some strings,” said Coran, nervously. “I can make you a Lieutenant.”

“What in your two quintants of knowing me makes you think I’ll accept anything less than exactly what I want?”

Coran gave a nod of his head“Forgive me for insulting the power of your ambition, mum.”

“And forgive me for underestimating the power of your… feelings.” Melenor walked over to a flower arrangement on a side table. She pulled the common flowers out of the vase and tossed them unceremoniously on the ground. “I accept your challenge, but we do it my way.” Melenor dipped the Juniberry flowers in the water and went about arranging them as she spoke. “We fight to the death. Winner takes all.”

Coran hesitated. This was more extreme than he’d hoped.

“I do not recommend dying for love that is already hopeless,” said Melenor, glancing over her shoulder at him.

“If we do this,” said Coran. “I don’t want Alfor to find out.”

“He’s going to get suspicious when one of us turns up dead,” said Melenor. She spoke of death as if it were nothing.

“We’ll both leave notes saying we’ve run away,” said Coran. “The winner will dispose of… of the remains.”

“Childish, but I can accept these terms. I’ll meet you in the center of the palace garden at highest moon. Bring whatever weapon you like.”

“What weapon will you bring?” asked Coran. “We should try to match.”

“I won’t bother,” said Melenor with a shrug. “I’ll use whatever you bring to kill you.”

******

It rained that night. Raindrops were in Coran’s eyes as squinted up at the Altean broadsword pointed at his throat. It belonged to Alfor. Coran had stolen it from the Castleship armory. He’d hoped it would give him strength. He should’ve known Melenor would use it to impale him. She had warned him.

“Did you set your affairs in order? In your note?” asked Melenor. It was too dark and too rainy to see all the way up to her face, but the weight of her foot on his chest assured Coran she was really there.

Coran nodded.

“Did you tell him? Tell Alfor your… feelings?” The way Melenor said feelings, it sounded as if she’d never had them herself. Like it was a foreign concept.

Coran nodded again. He’d thought telling Alfor his feelings would be an impossible task, but when he set quill to paper, he found it poured out of him like the ink was possessed.

“Would you like to know what my note said?” asked Melenor. She bent down, just close enough that Coran could make out her wicked grin in the dark. “I never wrote one. The moment you accept the possibility you will lose is the moment you create that possibility.” Coran closed his eyes. Of course. Of course it had always been hopeless. “Was it worth it?” asked Melenor. “Trying? And don’t nod this time. Let the world hear your voice one last time.”

“It was,” said Coran, his voice coming out croaky. His body felt so broken, he was shocked any part of it still work. “I imagine I tried… in a thousand realities… in hopes that in one… I could beat you.”

The weight of Melenor’s foot was lifted from Coran’s chest. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the death the blade of that broadsword promised. Instead, a clatter as the sword was tossed aside.

“Come now,” said Melenor’s voice, closer.

Coran opened his eyes to she her squatted down beside him, offering her hand as assistance for standing. “But… it was a fight to the death.”

“I may show mercy if such an emotion is inspired by my prey. I would be a fool to let such loyalty perish. You will be a great asset to the kingdom Alfor and I shall build together and now that I have broken you, I feel confident you will no longer be a threat to me. Now come.”

Lifting a hand felt close to impossible, but he did it, bringing his hand to clasp Melenor’s. “We’re a team now,” she said. “And lucky for you I have a connection with someone with a healing pod who I suspect is good at keeping a secret.” Taking Coran’s hand was a gesture of peace as he could not simply be pulled to his feet in the state he was in. Melenor instead lifted him up and carried him over her shoulder.

*******

Honerva opened her lab door with an exasperated sigh. “You’re later than you promised.”

“He put up more of a fight than I anticipated,” said Melenor, carrying Coran through the door and strolling across the lab towards the healing pod.

“You really shouldn’t have challenged her,” Honerva scolded him. “We watched her kill so many people.”

“Is he conscious?” asked Melenor as she couldn’t see his face.

“Barely,” said Honerva, taking out a small flashlight and waving it in front of his eyes.

“You did a number on him, Melenor.”

“Call me Mel,” said Melenor, swinging Coran off her shoulder and propping him up in the heal pod. “I’ve decided my friends will call me Mel. You okay in there, Coran?”

“Yes, thank you, Mel,” murmured Coran.

“You will call me your Majesty.”

“Apologies… your Majesty.” Coran tried to bow, but he winced.

Melenor moved away and went to inspect things around the lab as Honerva went about properly setting the healing pod. When it was set and Coran was asleep, Melenor rejoined Honerva. “I like him,” she said. “I’m never going to tell him that, but I like him.”

“Then why did you try to kill him?” asked Honerva, being the logical one in the room.

“I wasn’t sure how I felt until I tried.”

“Is this what things will be like now that you’re here?” asked Honerva, moving towards her desk. “High moon fights to the death whenever you feel like it?”

“You think I’m a Barbarian,” said Melenor, following her.

“On the contrary, I think you’re more strategically minded than blood thirsty. Brute force only wins battles with luck on its side.” Honerva sat behind her desk and rested her chin on tented fingers as she spoke. “I certainly wouldn’t have brought Alfor to the Grestation Battles if I thought the winner crawling out of the pit would be some half-witted oaf who couldn’t lead an army out of a revolving door.”

“So I really do have you to thank for my fortune,” said Melenor, sitting down across the desk from Honerva.

“That’s hard to say for sure. It could’ve been the blond who won.”

“No, it couldn’t have,” said Melenor.

“No it couldn’t have,” agreed Honerva. “Care for a drink?” Honerva pulled open the bottom drawer of her desk. She placed a bottle of Nunvil on her desk and a couple cups.

“Yes, I think that would be nice.”

Honerva poured them each a drink. Melenor accepted hers. “To old friends,” she said lifting her cup to Honerva then to the healing pod.

“Old? You’ve only just met us.”

“To becoming old friends,” said Melenor, clarifying. Honerva tipped her cup back at her. Melenor emptied her drink then set it down, looking over at Coran. “He found something worth fighting a fight he couldn’t win. That I can respect.”

“I wonder if I’ll ever feel that way,” said Honerva. Melenor studied her soon to be old friend. She’d like to see that side of her. “I imagine if you find the thing you know will be the end of you, that’s your true purpose.”

Melenor watched Honerva pour them another then raised up her cup. “For the glory of Altea,” said Melenor, tipping her cup.

“For the glory of progress,” said Honerva, tipping hers back.

“May they always walk hand in hand.”


	52. Where they went wrong *BONUS CHAPTERS*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More realm guardians wake up and they review the differences between the two realities and where the others went wrong. The stakes get higher.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've written a post season 8 one-shot with a Klance happy ending titled Lance's Future. If you're interested read it here https://archiveofourown.org/works/17421704

“Ahem,” coughed Allura, catching their attention then subtlety pointing in the direction of Melenor.

“Melenor… uh…,” stuttered Alfor, clearly surprised to see her there.

“It’s not what it looks like, your Majesty!” cried Coran.

“Oh my, who knew you two were in love since childhood? Not I,” said Melenor, oozing sarcasm. “This is a complete shock to me.”

“Melenor, c’mon,” said Alfor, sitting up. “Nothing happened until you were long dead.”

“As much as that phrasing was meant to trigger me, Alfor, you are aware I do not care. We may have married in a reality or ten, but you are not tethered to me for eternity.” Honestly, it had been ten thousand years. Melenor was over it.

“Not soul mates,” Bored stage whispered to those observing.

“Wait… soul mates are a thing?” asked Matt.

Bored shrugged. “Yes and the way they talk about them around here, you’d think it was the only thing that mattered. However, not everyone gets one so it’s kinda rubbing it in.”

“Not you?”

“Obviously not me. Why would I have one? But not Mel either. Yet she keeps helping the immortal gay and the dead gay because they’re soul mates. I don’t understand it.”

The other Guardians were starting to stir as Shiro and Adam returned. “We felt the realm quake,” said Shiro.

“That was a big one,” said Adam. “Oh, look they’re awake.”

“The Guardians,” gasped Shiro, looking down at them.

“Blaytz, buddy!” said Lance, jogging back to the group. Keith was forced to speed up to keep him close since their soul didn’t like to spread apart too far. Lance kneelt down beside Blaytz as his eyes fluttered open.

“Lance,” said Blaytz, grasping Lance’s arm. “I had something I wanted to say to you, but I got so confused and said it to Allura instead.”

Lance glanced over at Allura, but she shrugged. That had to have been the other reality Allura. “What is it?”

“I wanted to say that you have greatness within you. That’s why Voltron chose you.”

“Aw,” said Lance, his eyebrows turning up. “That… that means a lot.” Lance sniffled.

“Are you crying?” asked Keith.

“No,” said Lance, brushing away tears with his sleeve.

“That reminds me,” said Alfor, sitting up properly with Coran supporting him. “I believe I said something to you that wasn’t the full truth.”

“Guess that’s alternate reality me, but okay, what do you have?”

“I told you I could feel your love for Allura through the Red Lion.”

“What?” Keith’s voice had never sounded so terrifying as he fit all the scary in a single word.

“That is not the case,” said Alfor. “I can only feel that you are in love through the Red Lion and having my Guardian memory restored I am certain the love I felt was for the one who shares your soul.”

“It better be,” said Keith. “Otherwise I’m going to stab a table.”

“The expression is ‘flip a table,’” said Lance.

“I stand by what I said.”

Grygan and Trigel were stirring. Hunk and Pidge went to go help them sit up.

“Why would I tell Allura she has greatness within?” Blaytz muttered to himself as he sat up. “She’s already a princess. My head is all muddled. Mel, what happened?”

“Were we in Honerva’s mind?” asked Grygan sitting up.

“In one reality,” said Trigel, turning to look at Pidge. “The one close to yours.”

“The one that nearly ended all realities,” said Mel. “And it’s my fault. I am sorry, Guardians.”

“Melenor… are you apologizing?” questioned Alfor. “Now I am worried.”

“Bringing the current Paladins and Shiro here through the wrong gate split the realities,” said Melenor. “And the one reality created nearly destroyed all realities.”

“We were all accomplices to your plan,” said Trigel. 

“How are you sure the realities split from us coming here the first time?” asked Pidge.

“What other kind of large event would cause the branching off?” asked Melenor. “My plan was unconventional, but I had the Lion Goddess’s permission so I believed it to be safe.”

“Bored said the branch off happened after the Komar Robeast battle. That happened months before we traveled to the astral plane for the first time,” said Pidge. “It could have happened any time between those events. I wonder…”

“What?” asked Matt.

“If the branching off wasn’t an accident. Could someone have motivation for causing it?”

“Honerva,” said Melenor, her eyes widening.

“Why would she branch the realities?” asked Allura.

“So she could split on a pair of eights,” said Matt.

“Um Keith and I are tens,” said Lance. “But why would she want to split us up?”

“No,” said Matt. “I mean like in Black Jack. It’s a human card game,” he added for the benefit of the aliens. “You get dealt two cards and you have to ask for more cards to play on top of those. The goal is to get as close to a number value of twenty-one, adding up those cards without going over. You have to play against the one dealing the cards so highest hand of cards without going over wins. You each have one hand so equal odds of winning. However, if you get dealt a pair you can split and play two hands at once so you have two chances at winning against the dealer’s one hand.”

“Of course,” said Melenor. “I was the dealer. She knows me well enough to know I’d have a plan to help you defeat her. She hedged her bet by creating a second reality, hoping to succeed in least one.”

“But… wouldn’t that mean only one of her selves could be successful?” asked Colleen.

“I doubt someone as psychotic as Honerva cared about screwing herself over,” said Pidge. “She just wanted one version of herself to be successful.”

“And she was,” said Mel. “In the B reality. And that was my fault too. I knew there were two realities, but I didn’t hedge my bets like her. I played a favourite and put all my money on the A reality to win. I accepted the possibility of a loss in the B reality and it came to pass.”

“Why did you play favourites?” asked Shiro.

“I only need each of you to come into your full potential in one reality to get what I want, which is you to become powerful enough to join us Older Paladins as Realm Guardians. I completely ignored the other reality. Especially since yours was so demanding of attention with the lot of you popping in here whenever you felt like it to drill me for information. I thought the worst that could happen in the other reality is that everyone died, but why would that matter?”

“Why would that not matter?” asked Acxa.

“Because the A reality existed,” said Melenor, missing out on Acxa’s meaning. “Until it didn’t a few minutes ago. Luckily it’s been restored. But don’t you see, your journey here gave you all the tools you needed to be successful in your reality.”

Everyone looked at each other. “That’s hard to judge considering we don’t know what we did differently in the B reality,” said Shiro.

“You got asked out by some basic b*tch,” said Adam.

Shiro sighed. “I meant, the differences that actually affected the outcome.”

“He’s not completely wrong,” said Melenor.

“Yas,” said Adam, giving a little jump of delight. “My Ride or Die backing me up.”

“What I mean is, A Team’s Shiro,” said Melenor, gesturing to Shiro, “was more confident and engaging with his team. B Team Shiro was distant, retreating into his role as Captain in order to avoid processing his grief.”

“Ha! Suck it other Takashi!” snapped Adam.

“Adam, didn’t we agree we felt sorry for the other me?”

“No, you agreed. I’m still salty.”

It was Grygan that spoke next. “A Team’s Hunk experience world building in the Imagination realm led to him dreaming up and creating the Crystaline Hard Wave Interrupter. B Team’s Hunk retreated into his cooking and showed little interest in engineering.”

“But engineering is my dream job, cooking is my hobby,” said Hunk.

“Tell the other you that,” suggest Grygan.

“A Team’s Pidge learned to think outside the box in the Dream realm,” said Trigel, “and was willing to seek out more metaphysical solutions.”

“Like dreaming of Bored,” said Hunk in a sing-song voice.

“Shut up!” snapped Pidge.

“While,” said Trigel, “B Team’s Pidge was still mostly perfect.”

“Alright, Pidge,” said Matt, giving his sister a thumb’s up.

“A Team’s Leakira - ,” began Alfor.

“Also known as Keith and Lance,” said Keith.

“Shhh, don’t interrupt, Leakira,” said Lance with a wink.

“Leakira’s strong partnered leadership made their team the best possible,” gushed Alfor then his tone changed. “Meanwhile B Team’s Leakira avoided each other, rarely allowing themselves to be alone together since anytime they were they were tempted to kiss.”

“We do not know what they were thinking,” said Melenor. “We can only guess.”

“I was definitely thinking about kissing Lance,” said Keith.

“Same, but kissing Keith,” agreed Lance.

“Well, failing to communicate and lead together handicapped your team. Then there was Allura,” said Melenor, her voice filling with contempt. “B Team Allura was whiney, self-absorbed, soft spoken, insecure, and dating an inferior human –”

“Hey now,” said Lance.

“-who enabled her victim-complex at every opportunity. She also didn’t use her alchemy powers unless cornered and what else? Oh right…” Melenor spun on Allura. “She deliberately infected herself with a dark creature!” 

“What?!” gasped the non-realm Guardians.

“No,” cried Lotor, stepping forward. “I took on that burden.”

“No,” said Melenor. “In the B Reality you’re still dead.” Then she turned back to her daughter with a soft look. “But A Team’s Allura is the most powerful alchemist and Life Giver in all realities, capable of bringing people back to life.”

“Ahem,” said Adam. “Yet I’m still dead.”

“You were exploded, honey,” said Mel. “Lotor was only melted. Allura had more to work with. This Allura is also the undisputed Queen of Altea and when Luca woke up and saw that crown – because Allura was there by her bedside and not off on a date with some rando – she pledged her loyalty to you, my daughter. And when Honerva immediately killed her using the rift creature inside of her, you were able to bring Luca back to life so she could lead you to Oriande rather than waste your time fluttering about the universe, playing diplomats.”

“Yeah, the other versions of you su-uh-uh-uck,” said Adam with a snap then he changed his tone. “Except for you two, Roni and Coli. You’re amazing in all realities.”

“Aw,” said the two women together.

“Okay, so B sucks,” said Lance. “But it’s over and the Realm Guardians are back. No harm, no foul.”

In that moment Bored popped back and announced, “The After’s sinkhole got bigger.”

“Okay, some foul…”

“The good news is the other realms don’t have sinkholes.”

“But…,” said Melenor knowing if she didn’t press, Bored would leave out important details.

“But Memory is flaking away and Imagination and Dreams have stopped functioning.”

“Our realms,” said Trigel, allowing Pidge to help her up.

“What is wrong with them?” asked Grygan.

“Well, I think you need to go run them,” said Lance.

“The Lions would run them in our absence,” said Blaytz. Lance gave him a hand up.

“Something must be seriously wrong,” said Alfor, holding on to Coran as he stood.

“Search yourselves, friends,” said Melenor. “The answer is in an absence.”

Trigel grasped at her chest, her hand clutching her vestments as her face fell. “No…”

“But where…?” began Alfor with a twin expression.

Blaytz and and Grygan were clutching their chests as well.

“What?” asked Lance, innocently. “What’d you lose? Your phones?”

“The White Lion…,” said Alfor. “She’s… gone.”

“No,” said Allura. “What do you mean the White Lion is gone?”

“Search yourself, daughter,” said Melenor. “Do you feel her inside you?”

“Dirty,” mumbled Veronica. When people turned to look at her she blushed. “Did I say that out loud?”

Allura’s eyes went white. She let out a sob. “She’s gone… But how?”

“Okay, people,” said Veronica, loudly. “We have lost one White Lion. Everyone is responsible for searching their immediate areas.”

“Tread lightly and look down before you step,” added Lance. “I’m invoking Meemaw-lost-a-contact-lens protocol.”

“The White Lion is the Goddess of the universe,” snapped Allura. “Lance, you know that. You’ve seen her physical manifestation at Oriande.”

“Right,” said Lance. “The Goddess we rescued from Honerva.”

“Rescued in your own reality,” said Melenor.

“Let me guess,” said Keith. “In the B reality they failed.”

“Spectacularly,” said Melenor. “They arrived movements after you did and watched as Honerva drained the quintessence from Lion Goddess.”

“But we still have one,” protested Hunk. “Why can’t ours, uh, be inside you or whatever she’s supposed to be doing.”

“Because of what Oriande is,” said Alfor. “It is a space where the metaphysical and the physical connect. Before I created the Lions and ensouled them with the original Realm Guardians, Oriande was the gateway where a chosen Altean’s consciousness could connect to the non-physical realms and travel here.”

“Now thanks to a cosmic wolf any riff raff can travel here,” said Melenor, throwing shade to the newbies, Acxa, Krolia, Colleen, Veronica, Lotor, and Coran. “Not you, Romelle, you are warrior stock like myself so you are more than worthy.”

“Playing favourites as always, my dear,” sighed Alfor. “What I’m attempting to explain is though many realities are not arranged the same, star systems spread out differently depending on how the big bang went for them, the location of Oriande is a constant and it is layered over and over with every reality, existing in each with the thinnest layers in between.”

“Also, why it was a gateway where I could be pulled out the quintessence field,” said Lotor.

“Yes,” agreed Alfor. “The White Lion exists in all those realities at once and what Honerva did to her… it must’ve been soul death.”

The Paladins, Adam, and the Realm Guardians gasped. The newbies looked confused, but concerned. It was Shiro that offered to explain. “All versions of ourselves, past and present, share one soul. If your soul is destroyed, you die in every reality. I nearly experienced this when I battled Zarkon here, in the astral plane.”

“And I did experience it,” said Melenor, gravely, “when I lost my battle with Zarkon here in the astral plane.”

“You seem fine,” said Acxa.

“All physical versions of myself died,” said Melenor, “My soul should’ve been gone as well, but the Black Lion took the pieces of my scattered soul and reformed me. Being made from this realm has consequences. I am bound here for eternity and unlike my fellow Guardians, I cannot travel beyond my own realm.”

“Which likely prevented Honerva from kidnapping and trapping you as well,” said Trigel.

“A blessing in disguise,” said Grygan. “Without you, the realms may not have lasted this long.”

“I cannot take the credit,” said Melenor. “It’s Bored and her teleportation abilities that helped me keep together what I could of the realms. However withholding she can be at times…”

“And I provided the emotional support,” said Adam.

“No, you did not,” said Melenor. “I’ve been comforting you the entire time.”

“You didn’t like me finish. I provided the emotional support neediness that gave you something trivial to focus on so you didn’t sweat the big stuff.”

“Why are you here?” asked Lotor. “Who are you?”

“Wow. Rude,” gasped Adam.

“That’s Adam,” said Veronica as if this was so obvious and Lotor was an idiot for asking.

“I’m Shiro’s husband slash soulmate slash Melenor’s gay bestie.”

“You mean beastie?” asked Allura.

“Oh honey, no,” said Adam with a disappointed shake of his head. “Luckily when the Realm Guardians disappeared I was already over visiting Mel so I got stuck on this side of the veil.”

“Adam has value in… the company he provides,” said Melenor. Casual compliments weren’t easy for her.

“Aw Mel,” squee’d Adam.

“I can’t move the veil,” said Blaytz, holding his hand out ahead of him. “I am too weak and so are the realms.”

“I imagine we can not return to our own realms either,” said Trigel.

“Is the escalator not in service?” asked Grygan.

“Oh no, it forgot to keep existing,” said Bored. “Literally no one can travel anywhere, but me.”

“Well, I don’t like you having that amount of power,” said Trigel. “You weren’t programed with a greater good protocol.”

“Rooky mistake,” said Bored with a shrug.

“What’s the connection?” asked Colleen. “Why are things breaking down without the White Lion?”

Melenor looked at Colleen like she was surprised this needed to be clarified, but really no one but the Realm Guardians, Allura included, already understood what she said next, “Because she is… was, the very soul of the universe. She is the thread that runs between every soul and she is the glue that holds the non-physical realms together.” Melenor sighed. “And she is the source of our power. Was those things…”

“What happens without her?” asked Krolia. She didn’t even have a weapon and she looked ready to fight if need be.

“Our realms fail,” said Melenor. “They stop existing.” There was a chorus of shocked noised.

“What happens to physical reality then?” asked Matt.

“It goes on, in our absence,” said Melenor.

“That doesn’t sound… terrible,” said Lance. “We get to live, right? And exist?”

“But all life will have their connection to their souls severed,” said Blaytz. “No souls means no rebirth. You’re looking at the last generation in every reality.”

“No memory realm means no memories,” said Alfor, “Which means no acknowledge of oneself.”

“No imagination means no innovation,” said Grygan. “No solution to the problems to come.”

“No dreams means the final disconnect from anything beyond oneself,” said Trigel.

“Basically everyone’s going to go all eat or be eaten,” said Bored. “Things are going to get murdery real fast and all physical realities will collapse into a dystopian hellscape.” Bored sighed with delight. “It’s going to be marvelous.”

“Girl, what?” snapped Adam.

“You won’t exist,” said Allura to Bored. “It’s not like you’ll be sitting on a cloud watching it all.”

“I will physically exist to watch it,” countered Bored. “And sometimes I’ll be a pinball machine.”

“Your programing has swung far too close to evil in my absence,” said Trigel.

“Has not! I haven’t killed anybody. I swear!” cried Bored, defensively.

“Then why are you crossing your fingers?”

Bored pulled her hand out from behind her back. Indeed she had her fingers crossed. “That’s just a force of habit. I really didn’t murder this time.”

“I’m still trying to process this,” said Coran. “You’re saying life as we know it will end?”

“Yep,” said Bored, proudly.

“So it doesn’t matter if Allura sacrificed herself in the B reality,” said Lance. 

“Or that our reality returned,” added Pidge.

“Because we’re all going to die anyway. Wow,” said Hunk. “I’ve said those words so many times thinking I meant them, but now I know I really mean them. Like all of us. Every single person in every reality will lose themselves and die and that’s it. Story over. No more life in the universe.”

Everyone was silent, attempting to process the unimaginable.

It was Keith who spoke first. “So what do we do to stop it?”


	53. Three visits that must've happened *BONUS CHAPTERS*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Melenor pays Honerva multiple visits.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long gap between updates. Life got busy. I plan to share a lot more chapters very soon (if life doesn't happen again.)
> 
> <3 Chilly

Melenor groaned as she sat directly on Honerva’s desk.

“Why not just ask me for you what you want directly?” said Honerva, not looking up from her work.

“I wish for you to stop looking at that screen and pay attention to me,” said Melenor.

“You can fetch your own drink. It’s in the bottom drawer as always.”

“I do not want a drink. I want your undivided attention.”

“Give me a reason and I will consider it,” said Honerva, typing away.

“I am bored,” said Melenor.

Honerva paused her work and twisted in her seat to look up at her friend. “Has Alfor run off and left you alone again?”

“He is off playing rogue with his pals on Daibazaal. Some scavengers have invaded the planet. I wish they would come to Altea.”

“You want scavengers on Altea?”

“Yes, if they are in my jurisdiction, I get to lead the charge against them. It is just my luck there are no wars happening on our front. I am the Altean army’s Captain yet there is no one to fight, especially since Alfor decided to make his worst enemy his best friend.”

“You speak of King Zarkon?”

“Yes… I have not spilled blood in forever,” groaned Melenor.

“What do you expect me to do about it?”

“If you were truly my friend, you would offer to fight me to the death.”

“Over what?” chuckled Honerva.

“Something grand. Winner gets the other’s first born.”

“Does not work if we are dead.”

“Fight to the near death then,” said Melenor. It’s not like she actually wanted Honerva gone which was honestly the first person she’d ever thought, ‘I’d rather you stay alive.’

“I would prefer to face you a battle of wits for me to have an actual chance at winning. Besides, should you be fighting in your state?” asked Honerva, glancing down.

“I can still fight,” protested Melenor. “It is far too early in the preg – oh!” She caught herself, realizing what she was saying. “How did you -?”

“First time you have ever refused a drink,” said Honerva. “Plus you brought up the first born thing which I imagine was a Daklonian slip.”

“There is no keeping anything from you,” said Melenor with a sigh.

“Is this not… happy news?”

“Of course it is,” said Melenor, straightening up. “I am fulfilling my marriage contract and bringing glory to Altea by producing an heir to the throne.”

“I suppose I should not be surprised by your lack of sentimentality,” said Honerva, frankly.

“Ah, yes, that is why it is not such happy news. I am experiencing a new feeling where I am not one hundred percent sure I will be successful in the role of a parent.”

“It is called lacking confidence,” said Honerva.

“Is that what this is? I do not care for it.”

“Where do you fear you are lacking?”

“Sentiment. Is it not obvious? I was not raised by a parent. When I was a young child, an Alchemist came to my village and tested all the children for their Warrior potential. I was chosen for my inner lightning and brought to the Temple of Two Stars for training. We were raised to become Warriors. We were not cared for with affection, therefore I am not certain what that would look like. I do fear I will not be well suited for the role of a mother.”

“You care for me, do you not?” said Honerva. Melenor froze, a strange heat rising in her cheeks. Now what was this feeling? “And Alfor? And Coran?”

“I do not care for Coran!” Melenor blurted out, finding she could move again.

“But you do not deny the other two. Very good. See, you are capable of sentimental feelings for people.”

“I suppose I would rather you and Alfor stay alive if that counts as sentimental.”

“Keeping a child alive is half of parenting,” said Honerva. “Mel, there are as many ways to show love as there are atoms in the universe. Perhaps you will not check off all the boxes of an outdated idea of how a mother should behave, but I am sure your love will express itself in a way that is felt by your child. Expressions of love can be unconventional, they can even take the form of a King taking the throne and immediately making peace with his planet’s greatest threats.”

“What do you mean?” asked Melenor.

“Alfor made peace with Zarkon to avoid you going to war. The fact that he made a friend is just an added benefit for him.”

“Why would he not want me going to war?” asked Melenor, insulted.

“To keep you alive. Is that not your personal measure for loving someone?”

“Be direct. What are you saying?” Now she was definitely confused.

“I am saying that Alfor has fallen in love with you,” said Honerva.

Melenor choked. “Why would he do that?”

“Most marriages –”

“Our is a contract. I never agreed to share romantic love.”

“Melenor,” said Honerva, talking softly as if speaking to a child, “knowing Alfor I never had any doubt he would fall for you. That is the type of person he is and knowing you, you are very much worthy of being loved.”

*****

“Do you like him?” asked Melenor.

“He is very sweet,” said Honerva lifting the black cat with the orange head puff up to her face. “But why are you giving me a gift? Should I not be giving you a baby gift?”

“This is a thank you gift,” said Melenor, rubbing her baby bump absentmindedly. Seemed like in the past movement it had suddenly begun to protrude. She was hiding it from castle staff for the time being, but could relax in front of Honerva. 

“Thank me for what?”

“For what you told me about different ways to love. It has helped me feel more assured.”

“I am glad to hear it,” said Honerva, placing the cat on her lap and petting him. “I have never seen this breed before.”

“They are native to the Grestatia region where I grew up. Warrior Shamans breed them for their psychically susceptible.”

“What does that mean?”

“There are meditation techniques one can use to possess the beast and see through its eyes. It is a well-kept secret that we use them as spies in the army. ”

“Have you ever possessed one?” asked Honerva. “Perhaps you could teach me.”

“I -,” began Melenor, her eyes drifting away. “I do not meditate. I prefer my spirit to remain within me. I am afraid you will have to figure it out on your own.”

“Help me name him then,” said Honerva, setting down the cat to allow him to wander her lab. 

“Please do not ask me that,” said Melenor. “I have zero experience with names. I will most likely allow Alfor to choose a name for our child. He vetoed my suggestion.”

“Which was?”

“Kova,” said Melenor.

Honerva smiled, knowingly. “Ancient Altean for war.”

“Not everyone speaks Ancient Altean. They will simply think it’s a pretty name.”

“Is that your choice for a boy or a girl?”

“Either. War is for everyone and it will be quite fitting if they are born with the inner lightning of a Warrior.”

“Has Alfor not tested to see if you are having an Alchemist or a Warrior?” asked Honerva.

“No. He said we must wait until the child is born.”

“Ah, well, Alfor’s alchemy talents do find their limitations at times. Would you like me to check for you now?”

“By all means,” said Melenor. “I had no idea we could know so soon.”

“May I?” asked Honerva, reaching for Melenor’s stomach. Mel nodded her agreement. Honerva placed her hand on Melenor’s bump and closed her eyes. She felt the cat rub affectionately against her back, but she was forced to hold still and resist the urge to pet the cat.

Melenor felt nothing but the warmth of Honerva’s hand for a long time, but then she noticed a faint purple glow emitting from her friend’s arm. Honerva pulled back with a tiny gasp and opened her eyes.

“Well?” asked Melenor.

“Deep pools of water,” said Honerva.

“The opposite element to their father then,” said Melenor, processing.

“Yes, she is an Alchemist.”

“She?”

“Her spirit is female,” said Honerva. “I felt it.”

Melenor had hoped to raise a Warrior, to be able to lead in their instruction. An Alchemist was not her preference, but the idea of having a daughter, there was a strange pride in this. “Thank you,” said Melenor. “Alfor will be quite thrilled on both accounts.”

“Thank you for Kova,” said Honerva, scooping up the cat and allowing him to climb onto her shoulder.

“Kova?”

“It is a fine name. Do you mind if I use it?”

“Someone might as well,” said Melenor. “I realize I never asked what your Alchemist element is. Fire or water?”

“Both,” answered Honerva, reaching up to scratch Kova’s head.

“Both? It was my understanding an Alchemist is one or the other.”

“It is rare, happens maybe once in a generation,” said Honerva, “But I am both.”

“If I ever needed further proof you are extraordinary…”

The moment was interrupted by a vid screen popping up and Alfor’s voice saying, “Melenor…” 

Mel felt strangely guilty, but kept her composure and turned to the screen and said, “Ah husband, I have news.”

“You will have to tell me tonight,” said Alfor. “Zarkon is throwing us a feast in celebration of riding Dabaizaal of the last group of Lambonite scavengers.”

“Joy,” sighed Melenor. “I shall practice my polite smile in anticipation.”

“Now, Melenor,” scolded Alfor. “I have told you this before. You do not need to act formal in front of my friends. You may be your vivacious self.”

“If you believe my true self is vivacious, you have misinterpreted me.”

“Nerva, back me up,” said Alfor, looking to their mutual friend. “How would you describe my wife?”

“I would ask her how she wants to be described,” said Honerva. “She is not one to be labeled beyond rank and title.”

Alfor laughed. “You disappoint me, Honerva. I see your true loyalty is to Melenor now despite our long friendship. It does please me to see the two of your so close. Honerva, won’t you come to dinner? It will help Melenor relax.”

“I never intend to relax in front of King or our history’s greatest threat,” said Melenor, referring to Zarkon.

“I prefer my work to feasts, Alfor,” said Honerva. “You know this.”

“You leave me to suffer alone,” pouted Melenor.

*****

“I have come all this way. You could at least pay attention to me,” said Melenor, looking up at Honerva.

Since Honerva had relocated her lab to Daibazaal to study the rift it had made dropping in for visits much more complicated. Especially with Alfor off “defending the universe” many of the bureaucratic and diplomatic duties of being an Altean Royal fell on Melenor’s shoulders. This meant visits with Honerva were infrequent and it’s not like Honerva would ever leave her lab to visit her. She missed Allura’s presentation ceremony and all her subsequent planet rotation anniversaries.

Fed up with a lack of response Mel said, “Honerva, are you even hearing me right now?”

“Sorry. I am monitoring,” said Honerva, her eyes remaining on her screen. 

“Monitoring?” questioned Melenor from her place on the floor, scratching Kova’s head. The cat trotted off to go paw at the dark messenger creature Honerva had trapped in a cylindrical particle barrier tank. When Honerva had first shown her this “messenger” that had travelled out of the rift, she’d tried to get Mel to place her hand on the barrier so the creature could communicate with her. Melenor had refused. She did communicate through thoughts with any creature, especially not this mysterious one from another dimension. The other things that came out of that rift had tried to destroy Daibazaal. She certainly didn’t trust this one just because it was small.

“I am monitoring the Paladins as they fly their Lions,” said Honerva.

Melenor rolled her eyes so deeply the momentum forced her to go from lying on the floor to sitting. “Do not tell me you are a fan now. I thought we both could not care less.”

“Oh, I do think you care a great deal, Mel,” said Honerva, “in an anger inducing capacity.”

“The audacity of my husband!” cried Melenor, her usual rant coming on. “I agree to marry him and produce an heir to the throne in exchange for the role of the Captain of Altea’s army.” Honerva nodded along probably not truly listening as she’d heard this rant at least a hundred times. “But then what does he do? Not only makes peace with our greatest enemies, but builds a bunch of animal shaped ships to go sailing through space and create universal peace! It is rude to say the very least.”

“Agreed. He could have at least built you a Lion of your own.”

“Please,” snorted Melenor. “I am not a small male child. I do not play with toys.”

Honerva spared her a knowing glance.

Melenor sighed. “Well, he could have at least offered! I would have refused, but to be denied the very courtesy…” 

‘I should have been the head,’ thought Melenor, bitterly. ‘Not that I am interested.’

“I think they are close now,” Honerva muttered, her eyes locked on her screen.

“Close to what?” asked Melenor, standing up. “What is this you are watching? This is not video.” All Melenor could see were numbers and letters streaming by.

“This is the brain activity of the Paladins,” explained Honerva as she pointed to different sections of the screen. Now that Melenor was looking closely she could see the streams did differ.

“How exactly are you able to monitor their brain activity while they are piloting their Lions?” asked Melenor, sensing one of Honerva’s famous scientific oversteps. She’d turned the entire planet of Daibazaal into an experiment after all.

“I put scanners in their helmets.”

“Honerva!” snapped Melenor. “Are you lowkey bombarding our husbands’ heads with radiation at all times?”

“Not enough to harm them,” said Honerva, showing no signs of guilt.

“Alfor has aged a millephoeb in the past few decaphoebs. I now hold you personally responsible.”

“Here,” said Honerva, her eyes going wide as she took in the streams. “It is happening.”

“What is happening?” asked Melenor.

“They are forming Voltron. Now watch the streams. You will actually see them sync up during the sixty ticks it takes them to transform,” said Honerva, excitedly. “It is as if they share a mind space.”

Melenor fell silent. The streams of numbers and letters became identical in each stream, which caused her vision to blur.

“Is it not astounding?” asked Honerva. “Think of the scientific implications based on what we can now see is possible. Hive minds, telekinesis, mind-control, astral projection… Mel, are you alright?”

“I – I know this place,” stuttered Melenor, her mind locked on what she saw on Honerva’s screen.

“Place?” repeated another. “What place? You are looking at raw data.”

“No, it is – it is a somewhere. Their minds are traveling somewhere.” Melenor shook her head and tried to blink back what she was seeing, but when she opened them it was still there.

“Mel, you are worrying me,” said Honerva. Apparently the sight of Melenor frightened was enough to rattle someone as disaffected as Honerva.

The numbers and letters changed and the sight in front of Melenor’s eyes just became a console screen again. Finally she was able to blink the vision away.

“Let me get you some water,” offered Honerva, actually turning away from her desk for once.

“No, I am fine,” lied Melenor.

“Sit down at least,” insisted Honerva.

Taking her instruction literally, Melenor sat down on the floor. Honerva kneeled in front of her. “What did you see?” asked Honerva, her curiosity overtaking her concern once more.

“It is difficult to explain,” sighed Melenor and it was not a story she had ever told before. 

“You will find me a patient and active listener for once,” said Honerva. Amazing! Melenor finally had her dear friend’s full attention and all she had to do was recount one of the most painful memories of her life.

“I mentioned previously I do not meditate. This is because of a bad experience I had when I was a child. At the Temple of Two Stars, meditation was part of our training, part of our daily routine. Shaman Warriors taught us if we practiced our whole lives to truly clear our minds, we could one day reach the Ancestral Plane and communicate with the dead. 

“We were taught beginner methods. Most struggled reaching a proper meditative state. I, however, excelled at it. My mentors credited this to my lack of attachment to worldly things.”

“A strange compliment to give a child.”

“Yes, however accurate. While others spent our mediation varga fidgeting, I simply needed to close my eyes and I was transported somewhere… different.”

“The place you saw just now?” asked Honerva, pointing at the monitor.

“No, not exactly,” said Melenor, carefully choosing her words, “more like a space that exists between reality and what I saw.” The thought spent prickles across her limps, but Melenor refused to shudder.

“Describe it please,” said Honerva, reaching up to her desk to grab a tablet. Of course she was going to take notes…

“It was a path, of sorts, but cutting through the night’s sky.”

“Landmarks?”

“None.”

“Then how did you know it was a path?” asked Honerva.

“I just felt it,” said Melenor, “and I would hear voices all speaking as one.”

“What would they say to you?”

“I did not always understand, but I remember being told to turn back, that this was not my gate to enter. And…” Melenor reached far back in her mind for a fuzzy memory. “I would pass through my gate at the end of my journey.”

“I do not suppose you know what that meant. You say you were on a path, did you follow it?”

“Usually no,” said Melenor. “I would stay where I was then open my eyes and the meditative hour would be up.”

“But when you did?”

“When I did… If I started walking I would eventually open my eyes and many hours would have passed and all the other students would have long gone inside.”

“Inside?” asked Honerva.

“We would mediate outside,” clarified Melenor. Honerva tapped away at her tablet, getting this information down. “Then one time…” 

Honerva immediately looked up, curious. 

“I did not open my eyes. I just kept walking.” Melenor looked at a spot on the floor, trying to picture what she’d seen then. “These grey spirit-like things lined up along the path. They tried to tempt me off of it.”

“Tempt you? How?”

“By showing me visions or memories of my life before I moved to the temple… my parents… but I felt no attachment to my younger self. I have never in my life wanted to return to an older time so I passed those visions by.

“I walked for an impossibly long time then I came to a stairway.”

“Stairs?”

“Yes, absurd, I know, but there was nothing to do but climb them. They reached further into the sky than I could see, but I took those steps one by one until suddenly I was somewhere new.”

Honerva was all ears, pausing her tapping, waiting for a new description.

“It looked… or it felt, I suppose, like what I just saw on the screen.”

“Felt rather than looked?”

“I cannot…” Melenor swallow hard, shaking her head. “I cannot picture it. The feeling is there, but the memory is blank.”

Honerva nodded, knowingly. “I believe you have repressed a memory. Typically this is because the memory is traumatic.”

Melenor frowned. She knew why this was. “My sense of time passage got skewed in that place. I could have been there ticks or decaphoebs, I could not tell. When I did finally manage to open my eyes to reality… over a movement had passed. Six quintents to be exact.”

“Wait…” said Honerva, shocked by this information. “Where did you wake up?”

“Exactly where I left off. Outside, sitting on the dirt. I was nearly dead from over exposure. I was starved, dehydrated… my body completely numb from lack of circulation.”

Honerva gasped. “They simply left you out there? Your mentors, your fellow students, they didn’t try to rouse you or at the very least move you indoors?”

Melenor shook her head. “Now you are getting the picture of the unconventional methods of upbringing inside a Warrior’s temple. I did say I was praised for being unattached to others. They were just as much unattached to me. We were always left to fend for ourselves. Those who could not cut it were sent away or worse… died from their weakness.”

“Died from neglect,” corrected Honerva.

“This is why I choose not to speak of my upbringing. And why I refused to meditate ever again. It is with great shame that I admit I am fearful I would become trapped again in that place, unable to return to my body…”

“You need not feel ashamed for having fear,” said Honerva.

“Says my friend who is fearless.”

“I have fooled you then. I fear not achieving my potential.”

“That is hardly the same. Please, your unaffectedness puts mine to shame. Mentor me,” begged Melenor, attempting to lighten the mood.

“I have an idea, but you may not like it,” said Honerva.

“Now you must tell me.”

Honerva put up a finger. She got up and walked to another part of her lab. Melenor waited until she returned, holding out a helmet. “I would like you to face your fear and return to this place and allow me to monitor your brain while you do.”

“For what purpose?”

“You become fearless and I get to study this mindscape you are able visit. The implications of this are far greater than I could’ve imagined studying the brains of the Paladins. Forget mind-control, what about mind architecture? What about creating entire kingdoms inside your own mind that people astral project themselves into?”

“You intend to build a mind kingdom? Why am I not surprised?”

“I can,” said Honerva. “With your help. With the data I could collect from your brain.”

“I cannot –”

“Cannot? Since when can Melenor the Second, Warrior Queen of Altea, Ranking of One not do anything? I believe in you.” Honerva offered out the helmet.

Melenor sighed and took it. There was very little Honerva could ask that Mel would refuse. “But if I get trapped please keep my body alive until I can find my way out again.”

“I will put you in a cryo pod then go about the difficult task of explaining to Alfor how I broke his wife.”

Melenor laughed. It was just enough joy to motivate her to put on the helmet. Honerva hit a few keys on her computer. “Whenever you are ready.”

Deep breaths helped Melenor slow her heart rate. It had been millephoebs since she’d meditated, but the techniques came back to her immediately. 

Step one: Calm the body.  
Step two: Close your eyes.  
Step three: Open your mind’s eye.

Mel felt that buzz, that hum of something calling out to her from the other side, tugging at her. Even before her eyes closed she was hearing the voices.

“Turn back… this is not your gate… this is not your time…”

Melenor closed her eyes regardless of the warning and felt that shift, felt that disconnect from her physical form, but she did not open her mind’s eye. She’d intended to, intended to look around at the familiar path where she’d always start, but then she felt it… felt she was not on the path at all, but back in that place. The place she’d seen on Honerva’s screen, the place her mind had been trapped inside of for over a movement, the place she’d sworn she’d never return…

Somehow her consciousness had returned there instead of the path. Like in a child’s monitor game when their characters dies, but they have extra lives to they regenerate in the same spot.

How?

How was she back here?

She wouldn’t open her mind’s eye. She wouldn’t look. She couldn’t accept that this was happening to her again.

She was a fool. Such a fool for even trying…

She felt a tug on her wrist. Strange… Still, she did not dare to open her mind’s eye, but she felt with her opposite hand and felt string tied there. Three strands pulled taught. Then the one, the one in the center tugged so violently Mel found herself yanked forward, straight back into her body.

Safe, she could finally open her eyes to find them met by soft, clever ones, filled with concern.

Honerva was on her knees in front on Mel, checking her vitals and speaking so rapidly Melenor barely caught the meaning. “…Had to try to wake you… signs of distress… close to a seizure…”

All Melenor could focus on was that she was back. Honerva had woken her up, pulled her home. Mel had never had anyone worth… coming back for…

It happened so quickly, without real thought or fully formed intention. Honerva was continuing her rambling concern as she pulled the helmet from Melenor’s head and in that split tick she was so close… her face a mere inch away and Melenor found herself… she was so drawn in…

It wasn’t even a movement. It was like her spirit was still lose from the mediation and soared ahead first with Mel’s face tipping after it, chin lifting, lips parting…

She tasted Honerva… tasted her lips…

Melenor had never once thought she’d wanted this, but then it was suddenly all she wanted. This realization entered her mind like an explosion. But…

But…

But the second realization was a split tick later. She was alone in this feeling. She had believed she was sharing a moment only to discover it was all in her head, her… mind kingdom, as it were.

Honerva’s rejection was not harsh. She simply… retreated. Pulled back, dipped her chin away. It was not repulsion, but… it was not acceptance either.

A beast inside Melenor was urging her to, ‘Try again! Just try!’ but she could never push her dearest friend, her dearest person like that. But she didn’t back away. Simply stayed, basking in that tiny moment where she’d felt something in her heart click into place. She didn’t want to lose it. Not yet.

“Mel,” said Honerva, her voice a whisper. She was looking at Mel as if she knew that hope wasn’t crushed yet. That it was far too stubborn to die unless a verbal rejection was offered. “Melenor, do not take this path… I will not walk it with you.”

Only then did Mel retreat. She’d lost the battle… There would be no war. So she leaned back, away from the heat that radiated from Honerva, away from those soft, clever eyes that had saved her life from a deadly blood infection and had never stopped saving her.

Melenor didn’t know how to proceed. Should she apologize? Was that required? She had no knowledge of these things and she was struggling to put words together in order to form a sentence.

Too long. She took too long and Honerva lost patience waiting for some kind of closure. She stood up, taking the helmet with her and Melenor lost the opportunity for a quick fix to whatever this was, whatever this gap between them was.

“I believe the data I captured in that short time will be enough of a start. Thank you.” So formal. Eyes not meeting hers.

Melenor was still sitting there. She was broken. There was a canyon where before there’d been something solid, comforting and now just… vacuum. “I am pleased I could help,” she said, her voice robotic. It was a stranger using her voice.

Melenor stood, moved to go, her thoughts racing. It had been a moment of weakness, hadn’t it? She’s simply lost herself…

No…

No, she hadn’t been lost at all. She’d found herself and that was why her chest hurt in a way no injury could cause.

And maybe Mel could’ve collected herself properly if she hadn’t walked directly into Zarkon.


	54. Queen Angst *BONUS CHAPTERS*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The unravelling and rebuilding of the Queen of Altea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers, I just wanted to touch base and say this chapter is a whopper. It took me a long time to write it, but telling Melenor's story was worth it. That said, if you're not so invested in the flashbacks and aren't up for reading 10,000 words of backstory, you can skip to the next chapter without missing out on too many things that are important to the story. Yes, there's some, but you'll survive. Either way, please enjoy and thanks for reading!
> 
> Also! I don't usually give song recs on AO3, but The Killing Kind by Marianas Trench really suits this chapter.
> 
> xoxoxChilly

He was standing at the entry to Honerva’s lab, leaning casually against wall, making it clear he’d been there long enough to get comfortable. Long enough to witness… everything.

Melenor looked back and saw Honerva had made herself busy, her hand pressed against the particle barrier that contained that dark creature. She hadn’t noticed her husband was there.

Zarkon smirked and nodded over his shoulder. The gesture was an invitation to silently follow him.

As they walked, Melenor realized her façade of innocence would not play well this time. However, it’s not as if she were going to act guilty.

“Do you make it a habit of spying on your wife?” asked Melenor once they were far enough out of the lab to not be overheard.

“On the contrary, she is the one who keeps tabs on me,” said Zarkon, tapping his helmet that contained a brain scanner. 

“Then you are an innocent doorway lurker?”

“I had just returned from mission and came straight to the lab to greet my wife. Once I arrived I saw you two were… occupied and was polite enough not to interrupt. Come,” said Zarkon, sweeping out his arm to the lab’s exit. “Return to the palace with me and have a drink. I believe we both need it.”

Melenor nodded her acceptance of the offer though refused to walk ahead. She did not understand his casual behaviour and assumed he was trying to lull her into a false sense of security before viciously murdering her. He would not find the task easy. Mel’s eyes kept flicking to his bayard as they walked. Her fingers kept brushing along the retractable trident she kept hidden in her skirts.

In the great hall, the same place they’d witness the comet fly overhead that had caused the rift in reality itself, they sat together. Zarkon had drinks brought in by a servant. Melenor’s eyes were drawn to the black stone bracelet on his wrist. It was an engagement custom on Nalquod to present one to their betrothed. Yes, this was Blaytz’s fiancé then.

Melenor could not remember his name so she simply nodded her hello as she accepted a drink.

The servant left and Zarkon tipped his drink to Melenor, which was the Altean custom. She did not pick hers up.

“Melenor, I promise I am not attempting to poison you. If I want to kill you, I shall do it to your face.”

Mel relented, picking up her drink tipping it to Zarkon before sipping at it. Wow. The Galrans made a strong drink. Last time she’d feasted here, Melenor had been pregnant with Allura and had not partaken.

“Let us hear it,” said Melenor, putting her glass down.

“Hear what?” asked Zarkon, pausing before taking another sip.

“Whatever threat you are surely about to issue. Let me give you an example: I should stay away from your wife or you will tear me apart and scatter my bits to all the moons in our system.”

Zarkon laughed, a deep belly laugh, more amused than threatening. Not what she was expecting which put Melenor ever more on the alert. 

“You are a dark one,” said Zarkon, the chuckle still in his voice. “Where was this intensity before when we have met? Lurking under the surface?”

Melenor sighed and rolled her eyes. “Are you planning on threatening me or dissecting me? Either way, it is tedious.”

“I see. You are not getting the jealous reaction you expected and it is throwing you off.” Zarkon looked down at his drink as he swirled the surface. “Are you aware that Galra are largely polyamorous? We marry more often in groups than couples. The rules are different for royals though…”

“They are always different for royals,” muttered Melenor, taking another sip of the liquid that burned all the way down.

“I do wonder though,” said Zarkon. “Why not challenge me to the death over ownership of Honerva’s heart? Is that not how you settle things in the region of Grestatia? If you were to beat me, I would accept the results.”

“Of course you would, you would be dead.”

“Then you could have Honerva kill Alfor and the two of you could marry and merge our kingdoms. Become Empresses of Altea and Daibazaal. The damage you could do, two women of great intellect and ambition with the resources of both our planets at your disposal. You could bring the entire universe to its knees.”

Melenor couldn’t help her smirk. “The Galra would never accept leaders who were purely Altean. They’d hold a Kral Zera. Their new King would draw us into a war.”

“But would not you like that?”

Melenor shrugged, amused.

“It seems as if you’ve already planned this out,” said Zarkon.

“I have thought of it, not planned it. The mind does wander. Though to be fair, you and Alfor could do the same to us. Kill each other’s wives, unite the kingdoms, bring the universe to its knees and so on. At least I have already produced an Altean heir which you two would have had difficulty achieving.”

Zarkon laughed. “You have thought this through as well.”

“My mind wanders a lot.” Melenor took another sip of her drink. “To answer your question, there is a very good reason I would never challenge you for Honerva’s heart.”

“Loyalty to Alfor?”

“Ancient Ones, no. It is because a heart can not be won in battle and killing the person Honerva is actually in love with, would not be the way to woo her. So…”

“Hmmm,” hummed Zarkon. “Well, if that changes…”

“I shall issue the challenge,” said Melenor, tipping her drink once again.

Zarkon tipped his back and drank. After he swallowed he said, “I must confess, I have wished to speak with you for awhile, but it is hard to pin the Queen of Altea down.” Interesting choice of words. “I have been curious about you, Melenor. You are my wife’s closest friend and my closest friend’s wife yet we rarely interact and have never spoken one on one.”

“Perhaps I am shy.”

“Perhaps you are hiding something.”

“An attraction to your wife,” offered Melenor.

“No, that is not it.”

Melenor leaned back and smiled pretty. She had said nothing more than musings so far and she was not about to offer anything of substance.

“When I was Prince,” said Zarkon, looking off into the distance, “Daibazaal had already been warring with Altea for millennia. This was the torch I was to bare once my parents were inevitably defeated in battle by your predecessor, the Queen Mother. I knew that Prince Alfor would likely marry and take the throne around the same time I would become Daibazaal’s ruler and that being an Alchemist, he would be required to Altea’s greatest female Warrior.” Zarkon traced his claw like finger around the rim of his glass. 

“I grew up knowing it was my destiny to face Altea’s next Warrior Queen in battle. I used to imagine how I would kill her when I trained. Bomb her ship… slit her throat… snap her neck.” There was a growl to his voice that created a tension in the air, but he was controlled, his voice even. “So what I want to know about you is did you grow up picturing killing me?”

Zarkon’s eyes met Melenor’s as he asked this and she felt a chill that she refused to acknowledge with a shiver. 

“How would I know I would become Queen of Altea?”

“How indeed,” said Zarkon, his voice a low rumble. “I must admit, unable to get your story from the source, I did study your history. You were gifted as a child and I do wonder if in all your training if there were ever whispers from your teachers, rumors that you had what it takes to be chosen by the Prince?”

Melenor was stone, conceding nothing to his inquiries. Studying her history meant he’d searched for weakness as an adversary. Him being curious to know if she saw her future title as a possibility was strange.

“You are not what one would expect a barbarian from Grestatia would be like. You have molded yourself far too well into royal life, your manners are far too refined for a mere soldier.” Zarkon made a gesture with his hands in the air and a translucent screen appeared between them. “You joined the army after you graduated from the Temple of Two Stars,” he said pointing to a point on what appeared to be a timeline of Melenor’s entire life.

“I did not realize I had such an obsessive fan,” said Mel, her voice flat.

Zarkon’s smile was barely there and dulled quickly. He wasn’t there to reassure her. He was there to walk her through his investigation. “I imagine that is where you must have received special officer training, am I correct? When they pinpointed you as one with the potential to become the next royal?”

Zarkon looked at Melenor expectantly. She gave him nothing. He scrolled down the list.

“You never rose further than the rank of Lieutenant. Likely because you kept taking leaves of absence from the army to enter warrior competitions and raise your rank until you were high enough to enter the Grestation battles, which you did annually, obtaining the rank of One and returning every decaphoeb to defend your title.”

Melenor could offer some kind of explanation, as in she enjoyed keeping her rank, however, it would only sound like an excuse. She was patiently waiting to see what kind of conclusion Zarkon had drawn from his extensive research.

“What I find truly interesting,” said Zarkon, using the index claw on his opposite hand to drag into existence what appeared to be a second timeline, “is how often Alfor’s path and yours nearly crossed.” He clicked twice and two maps replaced the timelines and merged together to overlap with many points glowing red. “So many times you were battling in a region he was in.”

“Interesting,” said Melenor, her tone dead.

“I do not believe in coincidences, Melenor. When I called you ambitious before it was because I came to understand something about you long before we met.”

… Before they met?

Zarkon double clicked again and the map was replaced by photos and profiles of a hundred warrior women. Melenor knew these women… Melenor had killed many of these women… in battle of course.

“I was a bit obsessive in my youth,” said Zarkon. “I had my inferiors keep tabs on the top warrior women in Altea and provide me with statistics. See, I wanted to know the face of the woman I would inevitably meet on the battlefield.”

Zarkon swiped across the translucent screen and the majority of the women’s faces disappeared. Melenor recognized those remaining. They were all women she’d faced her in last Grestation battle, the one where she won Alfor’s proposal.

“Your physique is not the strongest, nor are you the most skilled in battle, but… you are clever…” Melenor looked at the photo of the blond woman she’d know as Number Two, the woman she’d killed with her bare hands. “And your blood thirst was far greater than all your competition.”

Zarkon swiped and her photo remained. “I was glad when it was you, Melenor, who caught Alfor’s eye. You were a favourite of mine for a long while. I looked forward to meeting you across the battlefield.”

“Instead we meet across the table,” said Melenor, watching as the translucent screen disappeared.

Zarkon sighed, “We are from the old world, you and I. The universe changed rapidly in front of our eyes…”

“More like my husband changed it. Reshaped it into a time of peace.”

“Yes, he had quite the influence on both of us.” Zarkon nodded. “But Honerva changed us more.” Melenor could not protest. “We are natural enemies, yet two of a kind.”

“I suppose this is heading in the direction of some kind of ally ship?” questioned Melenor.

“That would be asking a lot of us. You could only ever trust me as much as you trust yourself. Do you?

“Do I what?”

“Trust yourself… Melenor?”

Melenor gulped back the rest of her drink, and stood. “I have taken away something of value from our conversation.”

“What is that?” asked Zarkon.

“That you are some kind of fan boy of mine,” said Melenor, deciding to turn and leave it at that. The drink had been strong and she had to concentrate to walk straight out of the great hall. She would need to use her ship’s autopilot function in order to get home. 

The real thing that she’d actually learned during her conversation with Zarkon is that for decaphoebs she’d been sure he was underestimating her, when in fact she had underestimated him.

*****

Melenor was not broken, but, admittedly, something inside her cracked that day. Her conversation with Zarkon loomed over her like a dark cloud. Worse, her incident with Honerva gripped her from the inside, like a tight fist clenching her stomach.

Resuming normal life was tedious. It became clear within a movement’s time that Honerva’s friendship had been what was sustaining Melenor. Next time Alfor returned from mission Melenor told him, in no uncertain terms, that if he could blow of his diplomatic and ceremonial duties, so could she. Pass on the workload to Coran. He actually enjoyed these kinds of things.

Freed up, Melenor started spending her days with the army, letting them get to know her face, train with her, get accustomed to following her orders. This ruffled the feathers of many of the higher Officers considering when she’d left the army she’d been below them. Now she was their superior and she was actually practicing her authority. She didn’t care. They didn’t have to like her, just follow her. 

She flew the newest ships, practiced formations, ran drills, got her army running how she wanted it to run in case Altea ever faced a threat again and –Ancients forbid! – Voltron couldn’t save them. All the while her background thoughts remained the same, composing then recomposing apologies to Honerva. She realized her hope of simply behaving as if nothing ever happened and continuing on had been a pipe dream. She’d crossed a boundary. That needed to be acknowledged. Melenor wasn’t well versed in apologies. She couldn’t ever remember having had to have used one, but she would this time. Having Honerva’s friendship was more than worth a dabble with humility. There was only one problem. Honerva wouldn’t see her.

Melenor made regular requests to see her in person, but Honerva kept responding to the messages saying her experiments were at a critical point and she could not be disturbed by anyone. Mel didn’t want to send an apology through a message so her hands were tried.

The days of training were long and exhausting and by all accounts she should’ve been able to sleep at night, but her mind was far too busy to rest.

Oddly enough Melenor found an evening drinking companion in Coran. He would provide the Nunvil and all she had to do was listen to him ramble in great detail about the Castleship. Coran’s grandfather had built the Castle of Lions when him and Alfor were children. After a lifetime of caring for his grandfather’s work Coran knew every passage way, every light switch, every laundry shoot and over time Melenor knew them too.

Drunk Melenor would play a little game with herself while Coran went on and on about hull reactor jousts. She’d keep her eyes open and allow herself to travel halfway into her meditative state. By unfocusing her eyes while keeping them open and opening up her mind’s eye she could see, superimposed over reality, those three strings tied around her wrist. Not truly there yet ever present and if she really concentrated she could see a coloured glow from each other them.

Red, Blue, Purple.

Fire, Water, and the combination of the two.

Alfor, Allura, and… Honerva.

The strings didn’t pull tight anymore though. They were loose. Melenor had a hunch what that meant.

When Coran would pass out, Melenor would walk the Castleship and look for whatever area Coran had described to her that night. 

“Alfor says you’re a castle,” said Melenor, running her hand along the wall, “Coran thinks you’re a ship, but only I know what you truly are. You are my tomb.”

She would laugh at herself, aimlessly wandering, speaking to whatever ghosts were also roaming the halls.

These spirits she would encounter when she was drunk and in her half meditative state, they would tell her they were Ancient Royals. They whispered prophesy to her. They spoke of a reality ending war, of dates so far into the future Melenor’s great grandchildren would not live to see. They told her names that sounded foreign to her tongue, mapped star systems so far away she never dreamed to visit, and warned of a time when legend it self would end.

Back in her chambers each night, Melenor would scrawl down what they told her only to not be able to make sense of her notes in the morning.

Didn’t matter, she’d repeat the process that night.

Alfor would return to planet Altea sporadically, bearing gifts for her and Allura. He would present her with fine clothing, jewels, and art, always in front of staff. She would thank him publicly then in private spends vargas examing each object, attempting to feel some kind of “love” from it, failing, and inevitably them tossing into the large pile in the center of her chamber where his gifts were collected.

This was about the time when Melenor stopped sleeping indoors... 

She was sick of her chamber, sick of walls, sick of her impossibly soft bed. She tried simply sleeping on the floor, but it wasn’t enough. Sleep was getting more and more difficult even with the amount of Nunvil she was consuming nightly.

That’s when she started sleeping outside, in the castle gardens. She slept on the ground, under the stars just like she did in the army, just like she did at the Temple. The night sky calmed her like nothing else and with that comfort she was able to rest.

The castle staff charged Coran with warning her that it wasn’t appropriate for the Queen to sleep in the castle gardens so she stabbed him. Just a little bit. But enough to get her point across. That she does whatever she likes. Just like her husband.

There were whispers amongst the castle staff at this point of the unraveling of the queen. Being an eccentric royal was one thing, going mad as another. Melenor was glad the rumours could only include what they knew about. They didn’t know that when she spoke to herself while wandering the halls drunk that she was also hallucinating spirits. They also didn’t know of the diary full of indecipherable lunacy or that when the planet was in the proper rotation, Melenor could sleep in full view of Daibazaal and dream about the other Altean born Queen, likely working through the night in her lab.

Once Melenor had a very large helping of Nunvil and after giving the garden ghosts some of her attention, went to sleep without closing her mind’s eye.

That night her mother’s spirit visited her. Lay beside her on the grass and stroked her hair while calling her by a name she didn’t recognize. Melenor woke up with the ground wet from her tears.

At this point Melenor admitted to herself she couldn’t go on this way.

“I feel as if I am going insane,” confessed Melenor. “As you can see…”

“Why are you showing me this?” asked Coran as he carefully turned the pages of Melenor’s diary, his brow furrowed in an attempt to decipher the madness.

“Because I believe you are my only…” Friend… “Ally.” Melenor swallowed hard, her throat dry from dehydration and her hangover.

“You haven’t told Alfor about any of this?” asked Coran. Melenor had unloaded all of what had been happening to her over the past few phoebs onto Coran. (Leaving out the part where she’d kissed Honerva.)

Melenor shook her head no.

“Why not?”

“There is a long history of Altean royals going insane. There’s only ever been one cure.” Melenor dropped a flat hand on the back of her neck.

Coran looked at her with concern, a strange new non-verbal exchange between them. The reality was she had just handed him the evidence that would get her beheaded if he chose to bring it straight to Alfor. And why wouldn’t he? He’d tried to kill her once before. At least this time since Altea already had an heir, with Melenor out of the way, perhaps Alfor would be free to marry for love. She wasn’t sure of the details, but it could give Coran some shred of hope.

“We will figure this out together,” said Coran. Tension left the room like an unwelcome guest. “If you truly were communicating with Ancient Ones…”

Melenor’s laugh came out as a snort. She’d bet her last grogery on her simply going crazy as the explanation.

“It is best to take prophecy seriously.”

“What prophecy?” asked Melenor. “It is barely words accompanied by some terrible drawings.”

Coran flipped past a page with something that Melenor assumed was supposed to be one of the lions. “There are two coherent words that keep repeating.”

“Yes, I get the same message every night…”

Coran held open a page with ‘PREPARE ALLURA’ written across both sides.

Melenor shrugged. “Yes, but what do we do with that?”

“I think you best prepare Allura.”

“She has an excellent Alchemy tutor,” argued Melenor. “Granted, it should be Alfor, but he is never on planet…”

“Your majesty, with all due respect, this message did not come to Alfor or to Allura’s tutor. Whatever preparation the Princess of Altea needs, it needs to come from you.”

Melenor sat up, her attention sharp for the first time in movements.

“And we both know exactly how you can prepare her.”

Allura’s Warrior training began immediately. Allura didn’t protest, but seemed perplexed by her mother’s sudden (and very delayed interest in her.) The only part she objected to was when Melenor had her bed removed from her room. Warriors sleep on the ground. It’s better for their posture.

Allura beat the Gladiator at level one within the first movement. She looked to her mother for praise. Melenor kept her face neutral and had the Training Deck’s computer set the Gladiator to level two.

Melenor did worry that once Alfor returned he would put a stop to Allura’s training. She was to be an Alchemist, she had no need for Warrior lessons. On the contrary, when he did find out, he was quite happy with the situation as long as mornings were reserved for proper tutoring and when he was home he would watch their training. It actually drove Mel up the wall since he would praise Allura for every little accomplishment. Melenor attempted to explain to Alfor that Warriors do not battle for glory. All glory goes to Altea.

Melenor kept her pride to herself, but she was so very proud of Allura’s advancement.

Quiznak convention! Melenor would raise a Warrior and an Alchemist! Allura would grow up to be the culmination of a thousand generations of the strongest of their people. She would not need to marry to bring glory to Altea. She would bring glory all on her own.

Mel wasn’t the only one feeling invigorated. Coran decided it was a high time he updated the Castle of Lions’ weapons and defense systems. Get it battle ready, should the day come. He ran diagnostics and designed upgrades. He did all the manual labour himself. He worked tirelessly yet walked around with a skip in his step and a smile on his face. 

After a decaphoeb of work he was ready for a test launch. Melenor stood outside with Allura’s hand in hers as they watched the Castleship take to the sky for the first time in a millephoeb. It was a spectacular sight to be seen.

One quintant when Melenor was on the training deck with Allura, Coran came in to give her the latest report on the particle barrier he’d installed. 

“Stay,” said Melenor, on a whim. “Train with us.”

“You majesty, I couldn’t –” began Coran.

“You can and you shall. That is an order.” And that is how Melenor began training Coran as a Warrior. She had his bed removed from his room that evening.

All her life, Mel had longed for battle, to lead the charge and bring glory to Altea. War was coming, but likely Melenor would never see it. If Allura needed to be prepared, she was to take her place. Mel could accept this, she could put all her ambitions into her daughter. However, this would leave the Queen position open and the very least Mel could do was take this thin, pasty man and make him as close to a Warrior as one born with the inner rock of a Builder could be. At least one love story should have a happy ending in this solar system.

One morning Melenor woke up in the garden to find Allura wrapped in her arms. The child had sought comfort in her embrace in the middle of the night. As Melenor pulled her daughter tightly against her, feeling those chilled limbs and wishing to transfer her heat, she felt something inflate within her chest, a feeling that was so sweet yet bitter that caused tears to prickle her eyes.

She hadn’t known she could be this person…

Melenor decided it was best she start sleeping indoors again.

“I must confess, Melenor,” said Alfor one day when he’d returned from mission, “I have spent most of our marriage feeling like a failure.” They were watching Allura and Coran tag team the Gladiator on the Training Deck. They were up to level Twenty-Nine.

“Why is that?” asked Melenor. She could list reasons, but she wanted to know what he thought. 

“I knew you were not happy with the Royal life, that it did not fulfill you. I have been wracking my brain, trying to come up with a solution that did not involve me starting a war.”

Melenor raised an eyebrow. She hadn’t been aware he cared if she were happy.

“I should have known you would find your own solution, carve a new path for yourself. Not only that but you have lit the sparks of passion within Allura and Coran. You are more than a Warrior, but a leader. You bring glory to Altea and pride to me. If there is anything I can do for you please ask.”

“Stay,” said Melenor, the word slipping out of her mouth before the thought was fully formed. “Take time off from ‘defending the universe’ and give some time to your family.”

Surprisingly, Alfor did just that. The next planned mission didn’t need the full force of Voltron, four Lions would do so Alfor went on hiatus. He gave Allura’s tutors time off and taught her Alchemy in the mornings while Melenor trained her in the afternoons. The evenings were for the three of them to spend together.

“I like what you have done with the place,” said Alfor quietly as they gazed up at the hole in Melenor’s bed chamber’s ceiling. A sleeping Allura was sandwiched between them as they lay on a pile of blankets on the floor.

“I find I sleep best if I can look up at the stars,” confessed Melenor. The impressive feat was not that she’d broken a hole in her ceiling, but that her chambers were not on the top floor of Castle so she’d had to do the same to the room above hers.

“But if we launch…,” began Alfor.

“Coran built a hatch that’ll shut automatically if the launch sequence is activated,” said Melenor.

“That works,” chuckled Alfor.

If only he knew half the little ‘cheats’ Coran had created throughout the castle so Melenor could continue to be her eccentric self. He’d certainly failed to notice where Coran had moved the swimming pool per her request… Here’s a hint: Look up!

As they lay cuddled all together, Melenor had her mind’s eye open, playing casually with her meditative state, letting the supernatural superimpose itself across reality. She didn’t need to get drunk anymore, she could accomplish it on command. As she enjoyed the sensation of Allura’s breathing against her and Alfor playing her with hair, Melenor checked the ghostly strings tied to her wrist.

There were four now, the newest one emitting a faint orange flow. She scowled at it, but it had been there for some time now so she let it be. The purple string remained loose, but still there. Red and Blue were tighter than ever.

Melenor dropped her wrist and relaxed her body. Alfor’s breathing had turned stead, having fallen asleep. As Melenor let sleep begin to take her as well. Her mind’s eye was still open and she noticed two new stars in the sky above her. One Red. One Blue.

‘Fire for Alfor and water for Allura,’ thought Melenor, giddy from sleep. Their love was given so openly and freely, Melenor could stamp the night sky with it.

Water and fire were constants, existing and spreading themselves across the universe. That was her family’s love. Melenor’s love was lightning, rare, but brilliant. Striking unexpectedly, it could be loud and raw, beautiful and brief. But sometimes… it caused damage… Sometimes if left a permanent mark.

Red and Blue…

Fire and water…

Together in the cosmos…

Together in a person…

Honerva…

Melenor drifted off wishing her old friend could see her now. See how she had learned from her encouragement and become anew. Someone who could love and be loved.

*****

“Oriande?” repeated Melenor. “But I thought that was just a fairytale. A story we tell children.”

“Far from it,” said Alfor. He was sitting beside her on a love seat in her chambers, their knees touching. It was the next morning. Allura was off with her math teacher. Meanwhile, Alfor and Melenor were taking their time preparing for the day ahead. “I went there myself. It is as real as the Castle of Lions.”

“And you went there without my knowledge?” asked Melenor, feigning her horror.

“It is a well guarded secret amongst the Royal Alchemists,” explained Alfor. “My father swore me to secrecy as only the chosen are permitted past the Guardian, the White Lion.”

Melenor snorted. “I could get past him.”

“Her, love, and as tenacious as you are, I do not believe you could. I had my worthiness tested.”

“I adore worthiness tests,” said Melenor. Alfor shook his head. She was deliberately distracting him from telling his story. “When did you go?” she asked.

“After the comet fell and caused the rift on Daibazaal, I travelled to Oriande to seek solutions.”

“Leaving your pregnant wife behind,” scolded Mel.

“There I communicated with the Ancient Ones, the Life Givers, they taught me their alchemy secrets. They showed me how to build the Lions from the comets ore.”

Melenor’s eyes widened at this confession. She held up a finger to signal he should wait as she got up to retrieve what she needed. She returned with her diary and handed it to Alfor.

“What is this?” he asked, opening it up.

“You were not the only one who spoke to the Ancient Ones. They have communicated with me as well.” Melenor watched Alfor flip through her pages of scrawled phrases, numbers, and terrible drawings. “Admitedly, I did not receive such a clear message as instructions on how to build a giant fighting robot, but there is something here. Something important we must figure out. A war is coming. Possibly the war to end all wars.”

Alfor had stopped. Written in bold, spanning the two pages of the open diary were the words, ‘PREPARE ALLURA!’ His head was down as he quietly asked, “Is this why you have been training her?”

“Of course,” said Melenor. “Why else would I train her as a Warrior?”

“I thought you were bored,” said Alfor, a bitterness to his voice that Melenor did not expect. It chilled her.

“Do you not see the larger picture? You and I, we have been given separate pieces to the same puzzle. If we pool our knowledge –”

“Knowledge?” gasped Alfor, interrupting her. He stood as he slammed the diary shut and waved it at Melenor. “This is not knowledge! This is madness!”

“You say you have visited a land from a fairytale and learned how to build sentient robots, yet you accuse me of madness?”

“The staff warned me you were wandering the halls and speaking to the voices in your head, but I did not want to believe it,” muttered Alfor, pacing in front of Melenor.

“You are only dismissing me because my prophesy involves Allura,” Melenor stood up, her voice filling the room.

“Her training is over!” yelled Alfor.

“You do not get to decide that! You do not have authority over me!”

“It is against our customs for an Alchemist to train as a Warrior! I forbid it!”

“Alfor, I will not allow you to stop us!” yelled Melenor. “You do not get to cage Allura like a winged desalute! She is not your wife!”

The accusation seemed to suck the very air from the chamber as it gave way to silence. Melenor watched her husbands face turn from contorted anger to pain soaked misery. Then her eyes were drawn to Coran who had at some point come in the door.

“M – my apologies for the intrusion, your majesties,” stuttered Coran, giving an awkward bow. “Princess Allura asked if training could be outside today as –”

“You can tell Allura that her Warrior training is cancelled,” said Alfor as he continued to glare at Melenor.

She looked at Coran, recognized his hesitation. His eyes flicked back and forth between Alfor and Melenor until Alfor finally looked at him and said, “Now, Coran.”

“Yes… Alfor,” said Coran with another bow.

‘So that is how it is,’ thought Melenor as she watched him leave. All these decaphoebs… She’d thought they were aligned, but Coran’s loyalty remained forever with his love.

Alfor’s attention went to the floor between him and Melenor. “If you think I am such a tyrant...” His whisper was harsh.

“Go on,” encouraged Melenor. “Finish your threat and prove my point.”

Alfor turned and left Melenor’s chambers without another word.

*****

“Level one hundred and one,” said Melenor, speaking clearly so the Training Deck computer understood her.

“Level one hundred and one,” echoed the computer. “Safety on.”

“Safety off,” said Melenor.

“Safety mode locked,” warned the computer.

“Override code: Ree, Agus-play, Flancko, Plexis, Blee, 9875,” said Melenor.

The lights in the Training Deck turned red. “Safety off,” warned the computer.

The Gladiator dropped down from the ceiling shoot as the wall panels opened up to release the drone swarm. Level one hundred and one hadn’t existed before Melenor had come to the castle. Coran had to rig a new level after she kept defeating level one hundred and complained of being bored. Coran mashed many of the different aspects of the Training Deck together to create a level difficult enough to defeat Melenor. She was to battle the unrelenting Gladiator while being shot at by drones, and having to dodge holes opening up in the ground around her. Oh, and invisible walls could appear at any moment and if she touched them she’d be electrocuted. They weren’t set to “sting” either. If she touched one, they could stop her heart.

What right did he have to control her? To control Allura?

Melenor bitterly thought this as swung her trident, forcing the Gladiator to spin and shield her from the incoming shots from the drones.

He seeks to control everything in this castle – this planet – this universe!

Melenor sensed the ground about to drop out from under her and back flipped to safety.

Simply because he was born a Prince!

Retreating in defense, Melenor sensed an invisible wall slide into place behind her – she had trained herself to feel the electricity it emitted.

Melenor had struggled, fought, killed for her place on the throne!

She spun to the side to avoid the wall and stuck down the end of her trident on the ground and used it to launch herself into the air.

They were supposed to be partners, but he treats everything as if it’s his!

Melenor landed sloppy, tucking and rolling, but failing to retract her trident. The end stuck - trapped in a hole in the ground that had been attempting to close. She freed it but she was slow, just a bit too slow. It meant she miscalculated her next move. That’s how the Gladiator knocked her back and she found herself failing to catch her footing, sensing an invisible wall behind her she had no way to void.

Several things happened at once. Melenor hit the ground, not the wall. The Gladiator froze in the place. The drones seized fired and the computer announced, “Program paused.”

Melenor was confused, had Coran hidden a killswitch in the programing in case death was certain? She was almost angry to be alive until she saw Allura standing at the Training Deck entrance.

“Allura, what are you doing here?” asked Melenor, pushing to her feet. Suddenly she was embarrassed to have almost died. “Our training was cancelled today.”

“Coran told me,” said Allura, “But… I want to keep training with you.” Melenor’s heart swelled. To think she’d been so reckless with her own life a moment ago. Allura had a will of her own. It didn’t matter what her father ordered her to do. “I want to an Alchemist and a Warrior…” Melenor’s heart may have burst with pride if Allura had not added, “Just like Father!”

‘So this is what breaking feels like,’ thought Melenor.

Breaking can also mean hiding how broken you are from the person you love the most. Melenor walked up to Allura, put a hand on her shoulder – quiznak she was getting tall – and said, “And you shall.”

Then walked out so Allura wouldn’t see the anguish on her face as it finally pushed its way to the surface. She kept walking until she reached the Castle’s hangar where she took the first ship she saw, but not after ripping off and tossing her diadem on the ground.

******

“Honerva!” Melenor bellowed as she entered the lab. She’d had to knock out two Galra guards just to gain access, but she was done. So done waiting for her friend to come around and invite her in. If she wasn’t allowed, she would kick down the quiznaking door!

Melenor stopped short, seeing the familiar site of her friend’s back, all her focus on her work. “Honerva, I need to speak to you.”

“Then speak,” said Honerva, not bothering to turn around. That would not have been cause for concern, but her dead tone made Melenor’s heart hurt. She’d longed to her that voice again and to hear it so dead…

“I wanted to apologize to you for so long,” said Melenor, her argument with Alfor forgotten, her slight from Allura’s careless words no longer worth her worry. “But you will not see me. I understand I crossed a line, but to be cast of like this… It feels as if there must be more to the story so please, Honerva, tell me what I have done to so offend you.” The tears started without Melenor’s permission. “Tell me what I have done!”

“Nothing,” said Honerva. Melenor let out a relieved breath. “Absolutely nothing,” continued Honerva, her back still turned, her tone still like death itself. A bit of tension returned to Melenor’s gut. “At all. During your whole time as Queen.”

“What do you…?”

“You never do anything, Melenor. That is the problem with you. You come to me and whine and complain, but you do nothing. You are nothing.” Honerva finally turned to glare at her and she was old, so old and ugly. Or was that what Melenor’s impression of her was in the moment?

“W – we were friends. Why are you speaking to me this way?” asked Melenor, too shocked to be angry, too sad to be insulted.

“You challenged me once to a battle to the death, remember? I told you I’d face you in a battle of wits instead.”

“What does that even…?” Melenor shook her head, so confused.

“I took Altea’s greatest Warrior, the Queen, Rank of One and reduced her to this sniveling, whisper of a woman.” Honerva gestured to Mel. “And all I had to do was reject her advances. I would say I have won.”

Melenor felt the blood drain from her face, from her very fingertips. She felt numb and off kilter as if the ground had been pulled out from under her. How could the person who she’d shared her deepest, truest self with think so little of her? Treat her like she was a negative result in a science experiment?

Mel allowed herself to feel dead inside for three ticks. Three was all she could have before she puffed up her chest, blinking away the last of her tears. Because it was the accusation that hurt, but that didn’t make it the truth.

One.

She was the greatest Warrior.

Two.

She was the Queen.

Three.

Her rank was One.

Melenor set her jaw and clenched her fist as she said, “You have made a powerful enemy today!”

Disinterested in Melenor’s reaction, Honerva had already returned to her work. “I imagine that happens later,” said Honerva her voice going from calm to wicked in the span of a few words, “when you go home and tell Alfor what I said.”

That was it. The killing blow. 

Melenor barely felt as if she were inside her body as she turned to leave and…

Something caught her eye.

Melenor marched over to the empty particle barrier tank and pointed her finger at it. “This. Why is it empty?” demanded Melenor. Honerva ignored her. Unshaken, Melenor continued, “Before you had a creature in it. A messenger from the rift. Where is it?”

“It died,” said Honerva, her voice even, her eyes on her work, “during the first rift attack.”

Satisfied, Melenor spun on her heel and left.

*****

“It is inside of her. It has corrupted her.”

“Melenor, you have no proof of this,” said Alfor with a sigh. 

“She told me it died during the first rift attack, but I saw it in her lab after that. Why would she lie unless she was hiding something?”

“Hiding something and being controlled by a creature from another reality are not the same thing.”

“You are not listening to me, Alfor!” snapped Melenor. “Had you seen her yourself, you would have recognized your friend because that is not her. Not anymore.” Alfor was avoiding her gaze, it was such a struggle to force him to listen, but Melenor persisted, “We need to look at the larger picture. Our scientists have been analyzing Daibazaal, it is structurally unstable and becoming worse by the quintant with the planet quakes. Any moment it will give up and implode.”

“But Zarkon –” began Alfor.

“Is in on it!” said Melenor, but immediately saw she’d lost Alfor. “Or too close to it to see what Honerva is doing or too in love to want to see. Regardless, we must consider him an accomplice and we need to work fast. We must gather the Paladins, plan a raid, get the Black Lion under our control -”

“Melenor, stop! This is too far!” yelled Alfor.

“We have to de-weaponize so we can seize power!” yelled Melenor, refusing to be spoken over. “Only then will we be able to evacuate the planet!”

“Attempting to seize power would start a war!”

“It will prevent one, which is why we will not attempt, we will succeed!”

“You just want to fight,” said Alfor, his tone gone from angry to dismissive.

“Do not do this, Alfor,” yelled Melenor, her voice booming. “Do not reduce my instincts to mere fantasy and emotion! Everything inside of me is screaming that we must act and we must act now. A war is coming whether we initiate it or not. I can feel it inside of me like a storm about to break. It is like lightning in my veins!”

Alfor stared at her and he wasn’t angry anymore. He just looked sad. He turned to go.

“Where are you going?” demanded Melenor.

“To Daibazaal to speak to Zarkon and Honerva.”

“You are wasting time when I am telling you -”

“I will see for myself!” snapped Alfor, power entering his voice like a wave cresting and then it broke. All anger retreated. “I will negotiate the end of Honerva’s experiment with the rift. If we can not come to a peaceful agreement then… then I will look to our army’s Captain for what to do next.”

Melenor was silent. She’d waited so long for him to call her by her Captain’s title.

Alfor walked two steps then seemed to think better of it and returned to Melenor. His head held low. From his robes he produced Melenor’s diadem, the one she’d thrown away earlier. “Did I ever tell you about my mother?”

“Alfor, I knew your mother…”

“No,” said Alfor, “Not the woman you won the Altean crown from in battle. Who passed the diadem on to you. She was my stepmother. Well, my third step mother.”

Melenor knotted her brows in confusion.

“My birth mother died leading the charge against Zarkon’s parents. Coran lost both his parents in the same battle. Honerva lost her older sister. My father married my first stepmother immediately following my birth mother’s funeral. When the ceremony ended, the guests remained in the great hall to witness the new marriage. I was told to call this stranger mother and behave as if nothing had changed. We were at war, you see, we couldn’t have a gap in leadership.

“I lost that step mother a few decaphoebs later when we were at war with the Dalterion Belt. Trigel’s mother slay her on the battlefield in the evening. My father was married again by breakfast time the next quintant. The story of how I ended up with my third stepmother went much the same way.

“If we go to war, Melenor, you would be required to name a successor. The woman I am to marry if you were to fall in battle.” Alfor squeezed his eyes shut. “I do not want that for you. I do not want to lose you and not be allowed to mourn you. I do not want Allura to have a replacement mother.”

“You do not get to make that choice for me,” said Melenor.

“But it is not just you I choose for,” said Alfor. “I watched my dearest friends mourn their families and it became real to me, even as a child, that war meant not just my mother dying, but mothers and fathers, parents and guardians, brothers, sisters, siblings from all over Altea dying too. An entire planet filled with mourners. And our enemies families mourning their losses too.

“So when I took the throne I made peace with the successors to our planet’s greatest enemies, not just to protect you, but to protect everyone on Altea from the losses of war. I learned the value of peace at a very young age and I dreamt of bringing it to every corner of the known universe so no child had to lose a parent to violence born of power hungry leaders. That was the choice I made for everyone.

“I know you are frustrated with me, angry even. How I spoke to you this morning was… unacceptable. I have felt my own frustration and you never seemed to understand my motivations.”

“You never explained them,” said Melenor, quietly. 

“Yes… I see now how that was a mistake. I thought protecting you from the knowledge was best, but now I realize I was selfishly protecting myself from reliving my story. I am sorry for that. This is my truth and why I must attempt to negotiate with Zarkon and Honerva before we consider battle.”

Alfor offered Melenor the diadem. Silently, she accepted it then watched him go.

*****

“Our first objective must be capturing the Black Lion as it is their greatest weapon. After that our armies can land and seize both the lab and the palace. Understand?” Melenor looked at Gyrgan, Blaytz, and Trigel. They all looked so confused. She sighed in frustration. “What is it?”

“With all due respect, Melenor,” said Trigel. “But you speak of raiding our friend’s planet.”

“Alfor,” said Gyrgan, “Are we expected to listen to this?”

Everyone’s gaze flipped to Alfor, who was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, brooding. “You are not Altean so Melenor is not your Captain. You are by no means required to listen to her.” Melenor was furious. After all this, he still undermined her? “But I highly suggest you do,” added Alfor, pushing himself off the wall and approaching the table. “I saw their corruption with my own eyes. Zarkon spoke to me of using Voltron to rule the entire universe. They may be our friends, but their headspace is not right and Daibazaal is on the verge of collapse. Millions will die if we do not act. We have no choice. Following Melenor is our best hope.”

The Paladins eyes all turned to her. She nodded to Alfor.

“This is a dark situation,” said Trigel. “I will follow you, Captain.”

“I as well,” agreed Gyrgan.

Blaytz frowned. “My husband is in the palace.”

“If we execute this correctly,” said Melenor, “We will have no lives lost.”

“I am putting my trust in you,” said Blaytz. “One question. How will we get the Black Lion off planet? Towing it will be slow and provide opportunity to be caught.”

“I will fly Black off planet,” said Melenor.

Gyrgan laughed. “Forgive me, Mel, but the Lions are only loyal to their Paladins. They fly for no one else.”

“He will fly for me,” said Melenor, turning back to her planning screen. “Now –”

Her work disappeared as a call came in. Suddenly she was looking directly at Zarkon’s face. She controlled her expression. It was important not to let on what they were planning.

“Alfor,” said Zarkon. “I need your help. It is Honerva. She is sick.” Melenor’s resolve weakened. The fear for her friend was instant, especially when Zarkon stepped aside and showed Honerva, bed ridden, shaking, and looking millephoebs older than when she’d seen her this morning.

Melenor felt eyes on her. She turned to look at the Paladins and saw they were looking to her, not Alfor, for instructions on how they should react.

“Melenor?” said Blaytz. 

Melenor turned back to the call. “Bring her here. She needs Altean medicine.”

“Yes, thank you, Melenor,” said Zarkon.

*****

The readings on the healing pod we confusing to the Altean doctors. Honerva was dying. Every internal part of her body was shutting down, yet the pod could detect no source. No source meant nothing to heal which meant all the pod could do was sustain her life a little longer.

Yet Melenor knew the source. New it was the dark creature Honerva had let inside her.

“I wish I could apologize to you better. I wish I could just speak to you as a friend once more. I know you, Honerva,” whispered Melenor, as she ran her hand over the clear healing pod barrier. She’d asked the doctors to give them privacy within the Royal med bay. Kova was curled up on the floor, staying close to his master. “I know your drive to learn all the secrets of all the universes, but to sacrifice your own wholeness, your own being…”

Something strange in the readout caught Melenor’s eye. The healing pod was registering not one, but two heartbeats…

“Honerva, you are not…” She let down the barrier and reached into the pod – something outside the room registered with her ears, but her attention remained with the mystery before her - pulling open Honerva’s robe to reveal her protruding stomach. “You are. You are pregnant.” Tears welled in Melenor’s eyes. This child would be Honerva’s. They would have her smile, her laugh… her eyes.

Melenor heard Zarkon’s footsteps approaching before he spoke. “You see why I am so desperate to find a way to heal her.”

Melenor turned to look at him as the anger gripped her. “You… you allowed this to happen right under your very nose.”

“I trusted her. I truly believed everything she did was for us, for our people. I should have questioned her methods, but I did not. I thought she knew the limits of our planet… of her body…”

“You call it trust. I call it neglect.” Melenor new something of neglect, of standing back to allow someone to push themselves to the brink of the death in the name of bettering themselves. Her mind flashbacked to her childhood, to awakening from her mediation after over a movement left outside and exposed to the elements. 

“Say what you want of me, Melenor, and it will all be true. No one is more furious with myself than I am.”

Zarkon took a step closer, Melenor instinctively moved to protect Honerva.

“She needs a quintessence treatment, it is the only thing keeping her alive,” said Zarkon.

“The healing pod is keeping her alive.”

“Just barely. She needs quintessence. She’s been feeding it to herself to sustain her life. Please, I am not trying to harm her. I brought her here because I believed you could help. I will take her for her treatment and bring her right back.”

Melenor wavered. Something at the back of her mind was nagging at her and it wasn’t just to the two Galra soldiers Zarkon had brought with him who were lingering behind him. No, those two she’d already made a plan to disarm if need be.

Zarkon sighed. “I do not deserve your trust, but if loving Honerva could change your nature, could it not change mine?”

Melenor relented, stepping to the side. “Bring her back immediately. We must figure out, us and the Paladins, how to get this creature out of her.”

“I am grateful for your help,” said Zarkon, gingerly lifting Honerva out of the healing pod and stepping lightly as he moved to the door. The love was apparent in his body language and yet… something wasn’t right.

Her first clue was his soldiers weren’t following him out the door.

“Guards!” bellowed, Melenor, expanding her trident. “Stop Zarkon!”

Zarkon was in the doorway and she could see the slight turn of his head, the little smile on this lips.

She’d heard a noise before… When she was reaching into the healing pod it had registered, but the thought had not been loud enough. She’d heard them though. Heard the guards as they were knocked to the ground, unconscious just before Zarkon strolled in.

The Galra soldiers raised their weapons to fire at Melenor. She was too quick. Their shots hit the opposite wall. She had them both dead within ten ticks… Stabbed with her trident. She ran from the door to see it slam shut in front of her.

“Open!” she demanded, slamming her hand on the ID pad. 

“Lockdown initiated,” said the computer. 

Of course, the shots fired had triggered the lockdown. This was the Royal med bay and it was designed to become a panic room in case of castle invasion.

“Override code: Ree, Agus-play, Flancko, Plexis, Blee, 9875.”

“Incorrect code.”

“Quiznak!” swore Melenor. The med bay had a separate code. One she didn’t know. The only possible person who might know is... “Coran.”

Melenor hit the console on the door. “Call bridge,” she ordered.

“Communication on safety lock.”

“How is that safe?” yelled Melenor at the computer. What good does not being able to communicate in an emergency do? “Stupid ancient junky castle!”

Think.

There was an airflow vent in the corner of the room, but what good would that do if Melenor couldn’t fit through it?

Melenor’s eyes snapped down to the floor where Kova had one leg up in the air, cleaning himself. She knelt down in front of him. “I need to borrow your mind,” she whispered. Melenor capture Kova’s gaze, holding him with her own eyes. She knew the technique for possessing a cat like Kova’s mind, but she didn’t know if she could actually – No whoa. Never mind. She was suddenly looking through Kova’s eyes back at herself.

Melenor could still feel herself inside her body, but the sensory signals were Kova’s. Melenor’s body tore the vent off the airflow duct. Through Kova’s eyes she travelled inside.

The Castle of Lions’ airflow system was a maze, but thanks to countless nights listening to Coran repeatedly give Melenor the layout of the entire palace, she actually did know where to go, and with Kova’s body she soared so quickly through it until she was shoving opening another vent, dropping to ground, racing up to a pair of blue pants and chomping sharp teeth down on that calve.

“Ow!” yelped Coran. He spun around and looked at Kova, face furious.

Too late. Melenor already had Kova turning and running away.

“Come back here, you beast!” bellowed Coran.

Yes. Perfect. Chase him.

Melenor had Kova race back through the castle halls, all the while she could hear Coran bellowing after him. It was when Kova reached the knocked out guards, that Coran slowed, shock overtaking his anger at the cat.

Melenor sucked her spirit back into her body and ran at the door, pounding at it. “Coran!” she screamed.

“Door unlocked,” said the computer as the door slid open.

“Melenor!” gasped Coran, his hands on the keypad. She was already pushing past him, sprinting down the hall. “Wait!”

“Zarkon took Honerva!” she yelled back at him. “Tell Alfor!”

“I can’t,” said Coran. “We can’t reach him while he’s inside the rift.”

Melenor turned and ran right back to Coran. “Why is he inside the rift?”

“He took Voltron in there,” explained Coran.

“Why?” demanded Melenor.

“To seal it. First they had to make it bigger.”

“That makes no sense. Who approved that plan? They cannot… Oh Ancients!” Melenor slapped her hand across her mouth. “He took her in there.”

“What?” asked Coran, but Melenor was already running again.

“Zarkon brought Honerva into the rift! He’s going to expose her directly to the quintessence source!”

Melenor ran like the very wind was carrying her until she reached the hangar and took the closest ship to the door.

She arrived on Daibazaal too late… Voltron had already returned from the rift. She landed on a cliff, fearing the unstable ground near the rift. From her vantage point she could see four people standing… two on the ground…

“No!” screamed Melenor as she ran to the group. 

Zarkon and Honerva were on the ground, hands grasped, lifeless.

“Melenor, stay back!” ordered Alfor.

Gyrgan and Trigel moved to block her, but she broke free quickly. She dropped to her knees beside Honerva, pulling her body into her lap. She was so light… 

“Honerva, please,” she begged, her voice breaking. “Wake up.”

“She is gone, Melenor,” said Alfor, gravely.

“Then bring her back,” spat Melenor.

“What?” gasped Alfor.

“You said you visited the Life Givers. You learned from them. They could bring back the dead so bring her back!”

“I…” Alfor’s voice was shaking as he looked between Honerva and Melenor. “I do not possess that power.”

“Then what good are you?” yelled Melenor. Alfor looked so hurt, but she couldn’t care about that. Her voice lowered as she said, “Alfor, she is with child.” That’s when Melenor broke down. That’s when she lost hope and cried over Honerva’s body.

“I am… so sorry,” came Alfor’s voice, but it sounded so distant. Melenor didn’t feel connected to it… to anything in the universe.

*****

Three strings. Three strings left on Melenor’s wrist. The Red one was loose…

Melenor and Alfor sat on the floor of the great hall after the funeral, neither speaking. The guests had long left, but Melenor didn’t feel capable of moving.

She had no shoes on… She didn’t remember taking them off, but then… she didn’t ever remember putting any on. Had she not worn shoes to her best friend’s funeral?

It could’ve been funny if she didn’t feel so numb.

“I am sorry,” said Melenor, her tongue deciding to speak before he brain came up with words. “For what I said… Expecting you to bring someone back from the dead…”

“No,” said Alfor. “I am sorry.”

Melenor shook her head. “We both chose to trust him. He fooled us both.”

“No, not for that,” said Alfor. Melenor finally looked at him, but he was looking at the ground. “For controlling you… and Altea… and the universe.”

Melenor didn’t know how to acknowledge that so instead she said, “I am fairly certain controlling Altea is in your job description.”

“You and I were supposed to rule it together, but I failed at that even.” Alfor looked off into the distance. “I wanted to control everything in the entire universe. The hubris of it… I did not realize what I was doing until Zarkon spoke to me of ruling the universe with Voltron. If you seize control and call it power-grabbing or seize control and call it peace-keeping, is there really a difference? What right do I have to create such a weapon and use it to put everyone in their place, even my wife? Even my daughter…”

Melenor shrugged. She was tired and that was a difficult question. “I do not know the answer.”

“Neither do I. Can you help me figure it out?” Finally his eyes met hers. “I feel as if everything I have done, I have gone about the wrong way. I do not know what steps to take next. Please, Melenor, I do not deserve you as a partner, but will you help me now? Will you help me lead?”

Melenor crept her hand towards him, she touched his fingers to his. “Yes.” His fingers grasped hers and they sat like that until room grew dark from the setting sun.

********

“Melenor, are you listening?”

Alfor’s voice snapped Melenor out of her daydream. She sat up straight from her position at the head of the table, blinking away the sleep threatening to enter her eyes. “Hmm yes, the refugees.”

Satisfied that she was listening, Blaytz, Gyrgan, and Alfor’s eyes turned their attention back to Trigel. “I have the plans to terraform the moon, but it will take a decaphoeb, maybe two before it’s ready for habitation. The Galra can’t live on ships until then.”

“We should divvy them up,” said Melenor, finally participating in the discussion. “Amongst our kingdoms.”

“I can take some on Nalquod,” offered Blaytz.

“They are not aquatic,” said Trigel. “A lot of good a water planet would do them. Imagine all that fur wet.”

“What about submarines?” suggested Gyrgan.

“And how is that an upgrade from ships?” asked Alfor.

The Paladins laughed. Melenor noted what was funny, but failed to be amused by it. They were still laughing when the video screen popped up behind Alfor and a man they believed to be dead delivered a message.

“My fellow Galra,” said Zarkon. “King Alfor of Altea has destroyed our planet. He must pay dearly for his crimes. Rise up and join your emperor! Revenge will be ours!”

The message finished and the video disappeared, like it was nothing. Like a dead man hadn’t just declared war on Altea. Like Honerva’s murderer wasn’t once again alive.

When the initial shock wore off, Melenor found one by one, the Paladins of Voltron turned their horror ridden, expectant gaze to her.

“Captain…” It was Trigel who spoke first. “What do we do?”

Altea was at war. The Captain title was hers to claim. Melenor had the chance to bring glory to Atlea through battle like she had been dreaming of since she was a child at the Temple.

But…

At what cost?


	55. Lance attempts to plan a bake sale *BONUS CHAPTERS*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plan to replace the white lion forms.

“Alright guys, this is what we’re doing,” said Lance, clapping his hands together and looking around. “We’re having a good old fashioned brainstorming session. I’m going to start throwing out keywords just to get our creative juices flowing. White – lion –circus – trapeze – acrobats – clowns – terrifying – final exams – high school cafeteria – bake sale. We’ll hold a bake sale!”

No one reacted. Veronica looked to Keith, “Why didn’t you stop him?”

Keith shrugged. “It’s his process. Sometimes he’s unexpectedly brilliant. Not this time though.”

“Hey,” said Lance, defensively. “There are no bad ideas in brainstorming.”

“Yes, babe, yes there are.”

“It’s not my fault,” said Lance. “Usually I say something weird and then it triggers a light bulb in Pidge and Hunk’s collective brain and they solve all our problems. Bing bang boom. You’re not playing your part.” Lance pointed an accusing finger at them. “Especially you, Pidge. There’s three of you here!” Lance gestured to Colleen and Matt.

“What kind of material was the White Lion made from?” asked Colleen, looking like the gears were turning in her head. “Maybe we can manufacture a new one.”

“She was the soul of the universe and souls are made from quintessence,” clarified Mel. Another realm tremors roared its way through the astral plane, far stronger than before, forcing everyone to grab hold of each other to stay standing.

“Contractions are getting closer together,” said Bored, once it had passed.

“How much longer?” asked Melenor.

“Until we birth the apocalypse? One varga, maybe two at most.”

“Is there a way to build a new White Lion out of quintessence?” asked Colleen. “Or from a new soul?”

“I volunteer my soul,” said Allura, stepping forward.

“Seriously?” snapped Lance. “Sacrificing yourself is your kneejerk reaction?”

“I agree with Lance,” said Lotor. “I volunteer my soul instead.”

“Yeah, take Lotor’s soul,” agreed Lance.

“Lotor, no,” said Melenor firmly. “The universe does not want your soul. Allura, also no.”

Allure stomped her foot. “Why won’t you let me sacrifice myself? You did it when you fought Zarkon for control of the Black Lion!”

“So I set one bad example and now I’m forced to watch my daughter die in every reality?”

“You died in every reality on me first!” yelled Allura. 

“Wait,” said Pidge, “You died on Allura in every reality? You literally Disney Princessed her in every reality. That explains a lot…”

“That’s it! Go to your realm!” Melenor bellowed.

“I can’t!” yelled Allura. “It has a sink hole and I can’t move the veil!”

“Melenor,” said Alfor, calmly, “Don’t you think you’re being a bit hard on the her?”

“You always take her side,” snapped Mel, turning back on Alfor. “You’re too soft on her and that’s why we’re in this mess in the first place. B Team Allura never got a level up from me and now everything is ending.”

“Y’all need to knock it off!” yelled Krolia. “Your family problems need to wait. At this rate Lance’s bake sale idea is the best idea we have.”

“Oh yeah,” cheered Lance.

“It’s also nonsense which means we need a more practical idea. Is someone giving up their soul an option?”

“I’ll do it,” said Adam, quietly, but then said, “Oh? What’s that? Not powerful enough to be of use, but I still get bravery points for volunteering? That’s cool.”

“What about mine?” asked Shiro.

“Bish, what?” snapped Adam.

“Stop,” said Melenor. “None of your souls can replace that of the White Lion.”

“What if all the Paladins gave up their souls?” asked Allura.

“Um hello,” sneered Pidge. “Rather not have my soul offered up for sacrifice without my consent.”

“And wh-what if I don’t want to give up my soul?” stuttered Hunk. “It sounds painful.”

Keith sighed. “Figured it would come to this.”

“You figured we would have to die?” gasped Lance. “What is your worldview? How bleak is it inside your brain?”

Keith shrugged. “I almost experienced soul-death in Memory. Giving up my soul in the astral plane seems about right.”

“Keith, I wouldn’t let you die in Memory.” Lance lunged forward and grabbed Keith’s hands. “And I won’t let you die here. I don’t care if I have to soul-merge with you again. I will double-soul-merge with you. I will triple… quadruple – and whatever the multiple of five is soul-merge with you as long as I can keep you with me.”

Suddenly they were the only two people in the universe, at least the only ones that mattered. They leaned in to kiss –

“Stop!” cried Melenor, stomping over.

“What?” they both gasped as Mel looked crazed.

“Leakira was right.” She clamped a hand down on each of their shoulders. “Leakira is brilliant.”

“Wait…,” said Lance. “Which Leakira? Keith Leakira or Lance Leakira?”

But Melenor was already sweeping away, addressing everyone. “A soul-merge between five powerful souls could create a soul equal to that of the White Lion.”

“But that was my idea,” said Allura. “Combine the souls of me and the Paladins.”

“So not on board with that,” said Pidge, jumping in.

“There’s technically only four of you,” said Melenor. “Leakira is one soul.”

“Us plus Shiro,” said Allura.

“Nope,” said Adam. “He pledged his soul to me. Pretty sure that was part of our vows or was at least highly implied.”

“Yes well,” said Melenor, screwing her face up. “Shiro’s soul isn’t exactly moveable since he can’t die.”

“Wait what?” said Shiro and Adam in unison. One of them was both higher pitched and louder.

“Oh yeah,” said Bored, popping between them. “I’ve been looking forward to breaking this news to you. See, the other Guardians and I have been talking and due to your very strange circumstances of possessing your own clones body, we’ve theorized that when this body dies your consciousness will just quantum leap into another clone body and then continue ping ponging between clone bodies until you run out… which might never happen because there are a lot. Just floating out there in space. All scattered. Each kept in suspended animation so they won’t start aging until they cryo pods are hatched. There is a strong chance you are literally an immortal gay.”

“Takashi, this is not what I signed up for,” said Adam, waving his wedding ring in front of him.

“That makes two of us,” agreed Shiro, sounding astonished.

“So like, we’re never going to be together here?” Adam asked Bored.

“Don’t worry,” said Bored, in a tone that made all present feel like he should indeed worry. “As long as the After doesn’t end, Adam will eventually be reborn into that reality and you can meet up again.”

“But then I’ll be a baby! Ew! Gross! Now I’m kinda routing for the apocalypse because if I can’t have you, no one can have you and I’ll be damned if I’m stuck here watching multiple clone you’s having a threeway with a basic b*tch like Curtain.”

“Can we talk about this later?” asked Shiro.

“When later? There is literally no later! Later is rapidly ending and the clock is running out because no one is telling me to shut up so we can decide which souls can actually be sacrificed.”

“Adam,” said Melenor. “Shut up.”

“Thank you,” huffed Adam.

“If the Paladins and I cannot soul-merge to become the new White Lion then who?” asked Allura.

“The Lions,” said Coran. “They’re the strongest souls in the universe.”

“No,” snapped Alfor. “Never the Lions. You need to keep the Lions around forever. Pass them down to your children, through generations. Never, ever let them leave.”

Everyone was confused, but it was Trigel who said, “What Alfor is failing to explain is the non-physical realms are made of each Lion’s consciousness.”

“This place is them so they cannot become the next White Lion,” added Gyrgan.

“But those who can are the second most powerful souls in the universe,” said Blaytz.

“Yes,” agreed Melenor. “Five ancient realm Guardians should be able to create a new White Lion.”

“Mother… Father…,” said Allura, tearing up. “We’ve only just come together again. Now you’re sacrificing yourself because of my mistake.”

“A soul-merge is not a sacrifice,” said Alfor. “It is taking the best of the old and making something new. Look at Leakira.”

Lance was ready, already tipping his chin and giving a flirty grin. Keith was standing there with his arms crossed. “I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“Still?” snapped Lance.

“We’re forgetting the obvious here,” said Pidge. “If all of you become the White Lion, who will run your realms? Heck, who will heal your realms? They’re falling apart.”

“We can’t heal our realms without accessing them,” said Gyrgan, “but we can’t access them until we’ve become the White Lion.”

“The After will have a wonderful Guardian in my absence,” said Blaytz, turning to Allura. “Her soul has been ready for phoebs now. She can take over.”

“This solution presents itself to all of us,” said Melenor, turning to Shiro. “I’ve already nominated my successor.”

“Leakira will do a wonderful job with Memory,” said Alfor.

“No, thank you,” said Keith.

“Yeah, that place gives me the creeps,” said Lance with a shiver.

“The Memory realm is a wonderful place where you can relive the best moments of your life. That is, when you are not hiding repressed memories or lying to yourself about your feelings. Only then does it get a tad…”

“Murdery?”

“All the Realms are murdery,” said Bored. “If you try hard enough.”

“I am pleased to see that Dreams will have, not one, but three new Guardians,” said Trigel, looking at the Holts.

“Wait, really?” said Matt.

“Yes, why not?”

“I believe anyone with a connection to Yellow can be an Imagination Guardian,” said Gyrgan, clapping a hand down on Coran’s shoulder.

“Wait?” gasped Coran. “Truly?”

“It has been far too long we have left you on the bench, my love,” said Alfor. “It would be my honour to bestow you with the titles of Paladin and Guardian.” Melenor cleared her throat. “That is… if our leader agrees.”

“I think it is high time we rewarded your loyalty with a title or two,” agreed Melenor.

“Thank you, your Majesty,” said Coran.

“You may call me Mel, Coran.”

“Really? Finally…. M-Mel?”

“Yes, well, get it in while you can. I will not be Mel for much longer.” Melenor turned back to the others. “This sets a precedent for all of you to become Guardians of the Realm of the Lion you connected with. Besides, I simply must have Black Paladin Romelle.” Melenor walked up to Romelle, took her hands and pulled her over to where Shiro was standing.

“I feel as if we are picking teams for troblexa jousting,” said Alfor, clapping his hands in delight. “Now, all you moody Galrans, you are with me.”

“C’mon,” said Keith to his sister and mother.

“What realm are we becoming Guardians of?” asked Acxa.

“Memory.”

“And what’s a Guardian do?” asked Krolia.

“I don’t actually know,” admitted Keith, he grabbed Lance’s hand and pulled him along.

“Am I being lumped in with moody Galra?” asked Lance. “But I don’t have a Galra bone in my body… currently.”

“Lance!” warned Keith, turning red.

“Veronica, get over here,” said Blaytz. 

“So this is happening,” Veronica muttered to Adam as she walked over to Blaytz.

“Cool,” mumbled Adam. “Go be with your new gay bestie.” He was left with just Lotor and Bored. “Okay well, that’s great for all of you. Super happy for you. Guess we rejects will just hang here.”

“Adam,” said Mel, sounding exasperated. “Of course you will be a Guardian of the astral plane.”

“But I… I never was a Paladin. I never flew a Lion. I’ve never so much as seen them when I was alive.”

“Yet I have been teaching you how to manipulate the astral plane. This realm is the consciousness of the Black Lion. You have clocked more vargas here than any other potential Guardian. You know more about the workings of all the realms than any of them. I am counting on you to be one of three leaders to help guild those in the other realms.”

“You mean... I get to stay with Takashi?” Adam’s eyes lit up.

“After all I have done for you. You think I would separate you?” asked Melenor, exasperated.

Adam skipped over and wrapped his arms around his husband. “’Kashi, I’m so happy our souls will get to spend eternity together.”

“That was always the plan, wasn’t it?” said Shiro, hugging his husband back.

“You, me, and third wheel make three,” said Adam, eyeing Romelle.

“Third wheel?” questioned Romelle, raising an eyebrow.

“I shall name her Romy,” said Adam, still talking to Shiro. “And we shall adopt her.”

“Actually,” said Melenor, “Shiro and Romelle were married in one reality.”

“What?!” gasped all three concerned parties.

“It was a Sven reality,” said Mel. “Everything is always off in the Sven realities. Keith and Allura had a thing.”

“Ew,” said Keith and Allura at the same time Lance yelled, “What?! Keith and Allura? No! It should be Keith and Lance!”

“It is Keith and Lance,” said Melenor. “Honestly, I do not know why I brought it up. Pairings in realities do not matter. Every single combination of pairings or trios or groups has happened between the lot of you in some reality or another. They are random half the time. People never know what they want. Soul mates matter.”

Melenor spun around to count the people in the different groups then she turned to Lotor, who was still standing separate with Bored and said, “Do not be shy, Lotor. You’ve connected with a Lion. Do not let being considered evil hold you back. I have been considered evil in many realities. I have even been called evil your reality.”

Lotor walked over, leaving Bored alone. “Seriously?!” she cried. “Every single rando that wandered in here gets promoted before me?”

“B-Zero-Red,” said Trigel, stepping forward and taking the Android soul’s hands. “You are like daughter to me. In many realities I programmed you myself.”

“But?” sniffed Bored.

“But,” sighed Trigel. “You are far too chaotic to run a realm.”

“That’s fair,” sighed Bored. “I am still routing for total realm destruction.”

“However, I do think a promotion is in order. You will no longer be the Assistant to the Dream Guardian. From now on you will be an Assistant Guardian…”

“Oh cool, you removed the ‘to,’” mumbled Bored.

“Assistant Guardian to –”

“- Oh wait, the to is back –.”

“To all realms,” finished Trigel.

Bored’s metal eyes went wide. “Whatever,” said Bored, shrugging even though her face looked shocked.

Ignoring her muted reaction, Trigel took Bored by the shoulders and turned her to the group. “Utilize her,” she said. “She’s forgotten more about these realms than all of us collectively know.”

“Incorrect,” said Bored. “I forget nothing.”

“It’s an expression,” said Trigel.

“Oh… I will… remember that.”

“We have little time left,” said Melenor. “Guardians we’ll need to form a large circle. The rest of you line up with your lead Guardian. Bored, go find the puppers, where ever he’s run off to.”

Bored popped off to find Kosmo. The others followed their lead Guardians. Lance looked over at Blaytz with Allura and Veronica. “Blue group seems a bit light and we have four of us on Team Red. Maybe I belong over there…”

Lance started to walk over while Keith stayed put. Lance made it about fifteen feet before he was rocked backwards at the same time Keith was yanked forwards and they both ended up sprawled on the ground, pointed towards each other.

“Careful,” warned Trigel. “With the realms this weak, your soul can’t stretch as far as usual. I hypothesize that if you were to stretch past a certain point there would be a snapback so powerful it could shatter your soul.”

Lance and Keith looked at each other, completely freaked out, then got up and scrambled towards each other until they met and hugged.

“You are one soul, Leakira,” said Alfor. “So really I only have three of you.”

“But we have four,” said Pidge, proudly. It was her, Matt, Colleen, and Lotor with Trigel. “So suck it!”

“Katie,” scolded Colleen.

“About that,” said Trigel, looking at Lotor.

“Ah,” sighed Lotor. “I did not think I was actually worthy of this honour.”

“The wonderful thing about Green is she’s very resourceful and in this instance accepted many different pilots. You’re a knowledge seeker, Lotor, and in this way you are suited to be a Green Paladin. However –”

“However, I used that knowledge to destroy rather than create.”

“I was going to say that Veriada is not your true connection.”

“Veriada?” repeated Pidge, curious.

“Green’s true name.”

“The Lions have names?” gasped Hunk.

“How did I not know this?” Allura wondered aloud.

Embarrassed, Trigel looked over at Melenor. “We’re allowed to tell them their names now, right?”

“Now would be the time,” said Melenor.

“Your connection,” said Blaytz, walking over to Lotor, “Is actually with Palganosh and the After. You were born with the inner pools of water.”

“Really?” questioned Lotor.

“Yes, I haven’t seen so much potential since Allura,” added Blaytz.

Lotor looked over at Allura to see her smiling. Veronica scoffed beside her. “So what am I? Chopped liver?”

“You’re new, but you’ll get there,” said Blaytz, reassuringly.

“You’ll lap ‘em in no time,” said Adam.

“I do wish,” said Blaytz, looking off into the distance. “I could see the light of the After one last time… to say a proper goodbye to my husband, but the veil cannot be moved. Not until the realm is repaired.”

Bored popped back in with Kosmo then out then in then out again. The two appeared to be having a teleportation tug of war until Kosmo just went ahead and popped off without Bored. Bored made an annoyed screech then popped off to find him again.

“It’s a shame,” continued Blaytz, having ignored the weirdness. “I was Guardian for ten thousand years, but never got to greet my son, Kolivan, in the After.”

“Wait, Kolivan is your son?” gasped Krolia, stepping forward. “But he’s my…”

“Yes, I know, Krolia,” said Blaytz with a kind smile. “My husband and I have been watching over you for some time. Will you please tell Koli that I love him?”

“I will.” Krolia looked sheepish which was an entirely new look on her. “There was someone in the After I was hoping to see again.”

“Of course,” said Blaytz, his tone gentle. “Acxa and Keith’s father. I know he would love to see both of you.” Acxa had slowly been creeping up, listening in on the conversation. “There are many you both have lost that wait to greet you in the After. Guardians can’t travel to other realms except for here, the astral plane, as it’s a neutral ground. However, once the realm is healed, the veil can be lifted and they can visit you here.”

“I look forward to meeting my father,” said Acxa. “And to see Narti again.”

“Why don’t you have Kosmo take you over to see your hubby?” asked Lance.

“Leakira, you beautiful genius,” said Mel. “That is exactly why I told Bored to fetch the doggo. However, this seems beyond her capabilities.” Melenor whistled and ZAP! Kosmo appeared right beside her. She bent down to scratch his ears and whisper to him. Then Kosmo trottered over to Blaytz and ZAP’d him away.

“Why am I short a Paladin?” asked Gyrgan, considering Coran and Hunk. “Where is Shay?”

“Shay?” repeated Hunk. “Why would Shay be here?”

“Why wouldn’t Shay be here?” gasped Gyrgan.

“Well, she never flew Yellow,” reasoned Hunk.

“Not yet she has not, but she has a connection to Imagination, she was born with the inner rock, and therefore we need her,” stressed Gyrgan.

Kosmo ZAP’d back with Blaytz. The man wiped away a tear and went back to his group.

“Um so I guess I’ll take Kosmo and go get her…?” said Hunk, unsure.

“Hurry up then!” urged Gyrgan. To illustrate the lack of remaining time, the realm shook once again, in a rage this time. Bracing each other wasn’t enough, most went down into a crouch. The colours of the realm flickered.

“I’ll be one minute,” said Hunk, climbing up to standing and grabbing hold of Kosmo. Then with a worried face he added, “Please be here when I get back!”

******

“What an amazing family you have,” said Trigel, looking at the Holts. “Tell me,” she said to Pidge. “Have you ever thought of adding to the family by creating life?”

“What?” gasped Pidge, turning red.

“She’s a teenage girl,” scolded Colleen.

“Age and gender are not the issue, mom,” said Pidge.

“I, of course, meant creating AI,” said Trigel.

“Oh!” said Pidge, brightening.

“That’s more like it,” agreed Matt.

Colleen looked between the two of them and sighed. “I’m getting robot grandbabies, aren’t I?”

“Matt and I were joking about recreating my fictional twin brother Chip from that awful cartoon they made based on us. Build the perfect brother I never had.”

“Hey!” cried Matt.

“Don’t do that,” said Trigel, putting a hand on Pidge’s shoulder. “Create her.” Trigel nodded over Pidge’s shoulder. Pidge peeked and saw Bored. She turned even redder than before.

“I – I don’t think I can –”

Trigel squeezed her shoulder. “When you’re ready.” Pidge nodded. “And let her give input on who she wants to be this time… but don’t let her be evil.”

*****

“Alfor, must you go?” said Coran, holding his love close. “We’ve only just been reunited.”

“Becoming the White Lion is not a departure,” said Alfor. “I will be within the chosen and this time, my love, you will be chosen.”

Coran pushed up to Alfor, their lips meeting like muscle memory recovered after ten thousand years apart. His body curved into his. Alfor’s arms locked behind Coran’s waist and back. They were two souls, wishing to be one.

“Coran,” said Melenor.

Coran jumped back. “Yes, your ma – uh – Mel?”

“Melenor, can you not let us have this?” huffed Alfor.

“No, it is too fun teasing you. Coran, once again I must ask you to take care of our daughter.”

“Of course,” said Coran. “I’d never let anything happen to Allura.”

“Except you did. In the B Reality.”

“Was he even there when it happened?” asked Alfor.

“No! And that’s my point,” said Mel. She pointed a finger at Coran. “Stick to her like glue this time.” Coran nodded. “And…” Melenor sighed. “You’re a good man and I’ve always respected you. Ever since you tried to kill me to win Alfor’s heart.”

“Excuse me, what happened?” gasped Alfor.

“Goodbye, Coran… my friend,” said Melenor, offering her hand to shake. 

Coran looked at it then took it. “Goodbye, Mel, my friend.”

“Wait… Must you go so soon?” asked Romelle, concerned. Melenor turned to see the Altean’s attention on her. “I mean… I realize we just met and this sounds strange but… I feel like I know you.”

Melenor closed her eyes and with a soft smile said, “After all these millennia believing it wasn’t possible… Suddenly, here you are…” Melenor placed her hand on Romelle’s shoulder. “Chin up, daughter of Altea. The fates may write our stories as tragedies, but we are made of tougher material than the stars themselves.”

“Thank you for that,” said Romelle. Melenor pulled Romelle in closer and leaned her forehead against hers. They both closed their eyes as if this gesture held a secret meaning between them.

“Huh,” said Bored, observing. “Maybe everyone does get a soul mate…” Her eyes seemed to shift in the direction of Pidge, who quickly hid behind Matt.

“Just one?” asked Veronica.

“How many soul mates do you need?” cried Lance.

“As many as I can get. They’re like pokemon and I gotta catch ‘em all.”

“Father,” said Allura, approaching her dad to say goodbye.

“Allura,” said Alfor, pulling his daughter into a hug. “You are the very heart of me.”

“And you’re my strength,” said Allura. “Both of you.” She switched and moved to hug her mother.

“Make me proud,” said Melenor, hugging her daughter.

“I will.”

“In every reality,” stressed Mel, squeezing her daughter a little too tightly.

“…and there’s the catch,” laughed Allura, stepping back when she was finally released. “I shall try.”

“Adam,” said Melenor, summoning him to her.

“Is this happening?” gasped Adam, holding out his arms for a hug.

“Well I wasn’t… Fine.” Melenor allowed Adam to hug her. “You have, after all, become a good friend over the past few years.”

“Years?” repeated Shiro.

“Years,” said Adam, looking back at him. “I’ve been dead for years, Takashi. You have no idea how long it took before I was able to contact you.”

“You were a project of ours for a long time,” said Bored, popping over.

“I guess I should be grateful to all of you,” said Shiro.

“Lotor,” said Melenor, because she had more goodbyes to deliver. “I have a message for your mother.”

Lotor looked confused. “But when would I –”

“Tell her it was a draw, our… battle of wits,” said Melenor, stiffly, but then she softened and said, “And tell her I miss her.”

ZAP! Everyone turned to see Kosmo return with Hunk and Shay.

“What is this place?” gasped Shay, looking around. “It looks as if we are inside the night sky itself.”

“In a way, we are,” said Hunk. “Okay, so there’s a lot to explain.” The realm rumbled. Hunk looked around nervously. “Let me sum it up instead.” The realm shook so aggressively, the colours flickered. Stars fell from above and crashed around the Paladins like light bulbs smashing.

“We have angered the sky gods!” cried Shay as she ducked down with Hunk.

“She’s not wrong!” yelled Lance, from his position crouched with Keith.

The shaking lessened, but didn’t stop completely. “You know what,” said Hunk, pulling Shay to standing, “I don’t have time to sum up so just come with me and I’ll try to catch you up as we go.”

They jogged over to meet everyone. “Hello Coran, Allura,” said Shay, giving a friendly wave.

The Guardians of Old formed a wide circle, the new Guardians lined up behind them. The current Paladins took first position in line. Mel took one look at her line and shook her head. “Romelle to the front then Adam then Shiro.”

“And I’ve been demoted,” mumbled Shiro, moving behind his husband.

“Boohoo, Admiral,” snickered Adam.

“Addy!” Veronica stage whispered from the Blue line. When Adam looked, she gave an excited grin then they both looked over at Colleen. In unison the three of them snapped their fingers three times, waving their arm back and forth.

“What was that?” demanded Lance, having watched the moment between them.

“Secret friendship thing,” Veronica shot back.

“Since when are you friends with them?” Pidge demanded of her mom. “You’re too old.”

“Sweetie, I’ve been friends with your mom since I was fifteen,” said Adam.

“It’s not my fault if you don’t pay attention to my friends,” said Colleen. “I have a life outside this family just like my family had a whole space adventure without me.”

“Do you people even know how long we thought you all were dead for?” added Veronica, piling on. “Years.”

Then they were all talking at once.

“ – how many times you were presumed dead –”

“ – experienced more years than you –”

“- littered the state with Missing posters –“

“ – Sam came back then Adam died!”

“ – we only had each other so -”

“Enough!” bellowed Melenor. The low rumbling of the realm turned into a mighty shaking. More stars fell to the ground and smashed.

When it was done, Coran asked, “Was that you or the realm?”

“I am… unsure,” said Melenor, “But I really must have focus. The five of us are weak and need to return to our full power before we can soul merge. This is where the fifteen of you come in and yes, Pidge,” said Melenor as soon as she saw the small Green Paladin opening her mouth. “I know you physically express as sixteen, but Leakira still counts as one.” Pidge shut her mouth. 

“I am pleased to see so many Alteans will be contributing their powers,” said Alfor, looking. “In four out of five groups.”

“I think you got that wrong,” said Pidge, chiming because she was very much at the ready to give a correction from earlier. “There’s none in Veriada or in, um, whatever the formal name is for Red.”

“Wrong. There is Lance Palganosh,” said Melenor, finally signaling out one half of Leakira.

Allura laughed. “Lance is not Altean. I would know.”

“Are you thinking of Keith being Galra?” suggested Lance, pointing at his boyfriend who looked annoyed to have everyone’s attention.

“That’s right,” said Melenor, shaking her head. “You only found out you are Altean in the other reality.”

“Wait WHAT?!” gasped Lance. “Am I seriously Altean?”

“Calm down,” said Melenor. “You had an Altean ancestor thirty generations back. It’s nothing to write home about. However, your marks can be brought out in moments of great emotional stress.”

“What do you -?”

Melenor threw out her arm. Lightning bolts shot out of her hand and hit Keith in the chest. He collapsed to the ground, dead.

“Keith!” screamed Lance, throwing himself to the ground beside his love’s limp body.

“What?” asked Keith from above him.

Confused, Lance watched Keith’s body fade. He looked up at the real Keith, who was very much alive. “Wait…”

“Your cheekbones…” said Keith, his eyes going wide.

“Chiseled, right?” said Lance, standing up.

“You have blue Altean marks now.”

“Really?” said Lance, touching his cheekbones. “They don’t feel any different.”

“They’re not 3D. I don’t know if I like them.”

“Hey! I never said anything when you got a Galra face tattoo!”

“Pffft,” scoffed Veronica. “This makes no sense. If Lance is Altean then I’m also Altean. Unless… Lance is adopted.”

“Why would I be the one who’s adopted?” yelled Lance. “Maybe you’re adopted!”

“Easy way to solve this,” said Melenor. She threw out her arm and this time a lightning bolt hit Acxa square in the chest. She collapsed to the ground. Veronica didn’t react, just stood there, looking unimpressed. Melenor sighed and looked at her hand. “Either my illusion powers are failing or you’re cold hearted. If it’s the later, I’m impressed.”

“Why would I fall for that illusion?” asked Veronica. “I just watched you use the same trick on Lance.”

‘Dead Acxa’ faded as the real Acxa watched. “This is weird.”

“I was the Communication Officer who had to talk my best friend through battling Sendak’s first invasion,” added Veronica. “I heard his screams over the com as he died. I’m not going to be rattled by a cheap trick.”

“Aw Roni,” said Adam, clutching his chest.

Colleen cleared her throat. “I was there too and if I recall correctly Roni got herself ‘blown up’ later that day.” Colleen put air quotes around ‘blown up.’ “Not to compare pain or anything, but I lost both my best friends on the same day.”

“Oh boohoo,” said Melenor, sarcastically, “You all died on each other a thousands times in a thousand different ways in a thousand different realities.”

“Dark,” said Keith.

“Let us focus now,” said Melenor and that is when, with a snuff not a bang, all lights went out in the astral plane.


	56. The Soul of Universe *BONUS CHAPTERS*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The realm Guardians create a new White Lion. The Paladins learn something new about the Universe.

“Oh no! The non-physical realms died and us with it!”

“Hunk, how could it have ended if we can still hear each other talk?” asked Pidge.

“Oh… well, I was the first to talk. I didn’t know you were still here…”

“Cognito argo sum,” said Matt. “I think therefore I am. If you’re still thinking then you still have a consciousness so you still exist.”

“That’s a relief,” sighed Hunk.

“Paladins, sound off,” said Keith. 

“Leakira here!”

“Don’t call yourself that, Lance,” grumbled Keith.

“I was speaking for both of us.”

“Pidge here.”

“Hunk here.”

“Allura here.”

Silence.

“Okay, I actually meant all Paladins,” continued Keith. “Past, present, future…”

“Alfor here.”

“Blaytz here.”

“Melenor here.”

“Romelle here.”

“Shiro here.”

“Trigel here.”

“Gyrgan here.”

“Matt here.”

“Colleen here.”

“Roni here!”

“It’s Adam, b*tch!”

“I suppose I am here,” said Lotor.

“Coran here.”

“Literally the only one here who doesn’t qualify, but I’m here if anyone cares…” muttered Bored.

“Krolia here.”

“Acxa here.”

Kosmo barked.

“We’re short one. Who are we missing?” asked Keith. 

“Oh my gosh, where’s Shay?” cried Hunk.

“I am beside you, Hunk.”

“You should’ve said something. All future Paladins need to sound off.”

“But… I am lost.”

“You’re a Paladin too now, okay? And we’re maybe gonna be Gods together.”

A sizzle of electricity and then suddenly light. Everyone’s focus turned to Melenor and the lightning sparking in her hands. “That took far too long to get going. I have barely any power left and am unable to draw more from the astral plane.”

More lights as the other Realm Guardians were able to sparks bits of their powers into their hands. Alfor held flame. Trigle’s hand contained a swirling mass of green that when looked at from the corner of your eye would take shape of frightening creatures. Gyrgan held a ball of fire that looked like Earth’s sun. Blaytz produced a creature from his hand that emitted a soft blue glow and swam around his body.

“Wait…” said Allura. “I know this creature. We encountered them in the deep of space when we were separated from our Lions.”

“Yeah, and we got attacked by a lightning nebula that looked suspiciously like your power.” Lance pointed a finger at Mel.

“And those look like the flames I only saw in my mind,” Keith said to Alfor.

“And I bet you could make spooky creatures the size of a planet,” Pidge said to Trigel.”

“And that Sun could just as easily be Earth,” Hunk said to Gyrgan.

Gyrgan smiled and in his hand the sun transformed itself into Earth.

“Uh oh, we busted,” sniggered Adam.

“What the quiznak?” snapped Lance. “Why did you attack us in space?”

“It was not an attack, it was a test,” said Alfor.

“That’s what you said when you almost soul-murdered Keith!”

“It is not as simple as that,” said Melenor. “It was Adam who pointed out that by the time your journey home would bring you to Earth there would be no Earth to return to thanks to Sendak. It would’ve broken you. Every one of you. We needed you all to reach your full potential in order to be our successors.”

“I get it,” said Lance. “You tried to kill us in physical reality long before you tried to kill us in the non-physical realms.”

Melenor sighed. “One of powers of Kurobyun, the Black Lion, is the ability to teleport. The White Lion granted me permission to create a lightning nebula to teleport you directly to Earth’s neighbourhood as long as you proved your worthiness.”

“What is with you people and worthiness tests?” asked Pidge.

“Hey, if that freelancing Deity, Bob can suck you all into a worthiness test with no quiznaking reward at the end…”

“Except our freedom,” said Hunk.

“If he had dared to keep you, he would’ve had me to deal with!”

“Melenor, I told you before,” sighed Alfor. “I don’t think Bob had any intent of harming them. He created a game show to try to get Keith and Lance to confess to each other. Didn’t work though. Only I was successful.”

“You soul-deathed Keith!” yelled Lance.

“Yes, and now we have Leakira and we love Leakira.”

“I do love Leakira,” sighed Mel. “And you were right about them working properly together if they released all that physical and romatic tension.”

“I feel like the gods are way too invested in our relationship,” muttered Keith.

“How are you not flattered by this though?” asked Lance. “We’re the universe’s OTP!”

“I don’t know what that means!”

“It all ties together,” said Melenor, “We needed one reality where everything lined up to make you your best selves. For some people that means being with their soulmate. For others being pulled outside their comfort zone.” She looked at Hunk then turned to Pidge. “Or surpassing everyone’s expectations.” Then she turned to Shiro. “Or over coming the pain of loss combined with feeling the actual weight of the universe on your shoulders. Or fearing disappointing your mother.” Melenor looked at Allura. “My point is everyone has greatness within them. The reality where that shines through tends to be the one where they have the most to overcome. Congratulations. You’ve earned your stripes with these consciousness belonging to your reality and now you shall become gods and our powers will be yours, but first you must recharge us.”

The Guardians had their protégés place their hands on each other’s backs standing in a line. The person at the front placed their hand on the heart of their Guardian.

“Find it now,” whispered Melenor, her lightning illuminating her face and casting bits of light and shadow on Romelle, Adam, and Shiro. “Find where your greatest connection lies. What in Kurobyun spoke to you personally? Be it your natural ability to lead, your ferocity as a warrior, or your connection to the night sky… Feel those stars calling you. Your heart is a roadmap of the universe. Every possibility exists in you. No body confines you. Your minds are truly free.”

“Rock can be seen as cold and unfeeling,” said Gyrgan, “But it is truly the opposite. It is the foundation of every planet. It is the pillars of life. Those called to Jaallerg are the very heart of their people. They see the building blocks of the universe and imagine every possible outcome. Coran, Shay, Hunk, you take ingredients and make experiences, turn Puzzle pieces to art. You are loyal, gentle giants with love the size of a mountain ranges. Push that love towards me.”

“What calls to Veriada, Holt family?” asked Trigel. “To be a scientist is to traverse the wild. From the vastness of space to the smallest molecule, they contain wonders beyond our wildest ideas. You are the dreamers. You are the universe turning an eye on itself and becoming aware of its own existence. Your curiosity is what separates the living from the dust, creates the fertile soil that all progress sprouts from. Feel that within you.”

“When contemplating your connection to the After,” began Blaytz, “It is easy to get wrapped up in the concept of divinity. Religions spanning all galaxies and realities preach of morality as the gatekeeper to the afterlife. Lotor,” said Blaytz, singling out the prince, hanging his head in the back of the line, “I want you in particular to understand that the After is no such place. To be a Guardian of the After, to be a paladin of Azullean is to believe in second chances and third chances and so on.”

“I have taken the lives of so many,” said Lotor. “I do not value life. I cannot protect the very place that life comes from.”

“Everyone goes to the After, Lotor, ever single person and animal and lifeform. To care for these souls is an act of compassion and humility as you show them that there is no such thing as evil. There is only choices. Everyone gets new life and gets to try again. It is when the trying stops that a soul degrades. A soul that can turn themselves around. Once you understand that, let the understanding flow from you like the strongest river and be as patient as deepest ocean.

“Veronica, Allura, Lotor, you are such different people and the After is wear our souls find acceptance in the differences that kept us feuding in the physical world. You are exactly who these souls need. Feel that truth as old as life itself and gift it to me.”

“Krolia, Acxa, Leakira,” said Alfor, greeting his protégés. “You are gathered because of your connection to Palganosh.”

“Is it just me or does this sound like a wedding ceremony?” asked Lance.

“Don’t,” said Keith, “Don’t give him ideas.”

“He is the most difficult Lion to connect to because he is the Guardian of Memory, a concept that draws every range of emotion from love to anger to pain. Memory can be as vivid as reality or as faint as a lost dream. It is the embers in the fire of passion. Those connected to it are fast and impulsive and feel emotions very strongly. They burn with passion in the way they fight, in the way work, and in the way they love. To be honest,” said Alfor, his tone changing, “In the bedroom they –”

“Keep it appropriate!” snapped Melenor.

Alfor cleared his throat. “There is nothing more terrifying than facing yourself. The you in your mind is built from memory. If you can make peace with every past version of yourself, you can walk through the blaze and not get burned. Take that inner flame and pass it to me.”

Closing their eyes, the group from Red pushed that energy from within themselves and forward, passing through each soul, becoming stronger as it joined forces, and flowed red and glowing into Alfor.

All around the circle quintessence was passed from the current and future Paladins to the Paladins of Old, glowing the colour of their Lion. This changed the appearance of the Guardians, their bodies radiating light and growing larger. Soon it was apparent why they needed a wide circle for the task as they grew to the size of a houses.

Ribbons of the night sky twisted around Melenor. Flames danced around Alfor, never burning him. Trigel grew like a tree, solid and leafy. Gyrgan rose like a mountain while rumbling like a landslide. Blaytz’s glowing winged creatures multipled until there were hundreds swirling around his towering body.

“Whoa,” gasped Veronica when she opened her eyes. This prompted the others to open theirs as well and react much the same.

Only Allura understood what they were looking at. “And that is the true form of the Ancient ones,” she explained.

“How do you know?”

“That’s how my mother looked when I won this crown from her.”

“You fought her when she looked like Hagrid on concaine?”

“I… Do you mean Haggar?”

“Nevermind...”

****

“So...,” said Blaytz, looking around at his fellow Ancient Ones, “Once again is has come down to the five of us.”

“Yes,” agreed Trigel. “At the end of everything it’s still us.”

“Hopefully at a new beginning too,” added Gyrgan.

“I’m glad it’s us together,” said Alfor. “My dearest friends.”

Everyone turned to Melenor. It took a moment for her to realize why. “Um yes. Something sentimental…”

“Nice try, Mel,” said Trigel.

“Your perseverance is inspirational,” said Melenor. “You all played your parts as Paladins for so long and you died standing up. You’re warriors and I rank you two through five.”

“Who is who?” asked Grygan.

“Ranked by height,” said Mel.

“Yes! I am two,” he said.

“No, reverse as I’m the shortest. You’re number five. Trigel is my number two.”

“Not your husband?” pouted Alfor.

“Honestly, what would Coran say?” grumbled Melenor. “You are someone else’s right hand man. I would prefer a left hand woman.”

“So then,” said Trigel. “I think we should do it one more time.” She took Gyrgan and Melenor’s hands. The rest joined hands as well in a circle. Trigel nodded at Gyrgan. 

“I shall form the leg,” he said.

“And I the arm,” said Trigel.

“I do believe we will be paws,” corrected Alfor.

“I will still call myself a leg,” said Blaytz.

They all looked at Melenor, expectantly. She sighed. “Do not make me say it.”

“C’mon, Mel,” urged Gyrgan. “The soul-merge will only work if we all play along.”

“Says who?”

“Do it for fun,” urged Trigel, tugging on her friend’s hand.

“Very well,” said Melenor, relenting. She cleared her throat and said proudly, “And I shall form the head!”

The others laughed, a joyous sound mixing together as their very beings became fluid and swirled. The mix of the colours of their powers turned to white light. It blinded everyone below in a bright flash. When everyone was able to see again, the one source of light in all the realm was the giant lion spirit in the center of them, the white lion, the lion goddess, the goddess of the universe, the very soul of the universe.

Kosmo howled.

The White Lion roared back. Superimposed over her was a vision of a Voltron, the two merging as one.

“Wait…” muttered Keith.

“The White Lion is…” said Lance.

“The soul of the Voltron!” gasped Hunk. 

“Which means…” said Allura.

“Voltron is genderfluid!” said Pidge. “Knew it! Called it!”

“No,” said Shiro, “It means that Voltron isn’t just the Defender of the Universe. It’s…”

“It’s the Universe defending itself,” finished Keith.

“Did no one tell you that?” asked Bored. “I could’ve told you that.”

There was a bright flash and the White Lion dispersed, flowing outwards like a wave of light and energy. It pushed its way through all those gathered, traveling through their bodies, through their hearts. Their hair flew back from the force of it, blowing by like the tailend of a Hurricane. Then it was gone, travelling out to parts unseen.

And it was dark again.


	57. So Many Stars *BONUS CHAPTERS*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new Guardians work on healing the astral plane.

“Hello?” called Hunk. “Am I the only one in existence?”

Responses such as “No” and “I’m here too” called out around him. 

“Okay, just checking. ‘Cause I can think so I know I’m alive, but checking on everyone else.”

“Should we sound off?” asked Keith.

But there was a spark of light and soon he could see Krolia lit up by a fire that came from the palms of her hands.

“That’s new,” she muttered.

“Cool,” said Acxa, sparking a flame to life in her own hands. Keith did the same.

“Oh sure, give the knife brigade fire powers,” sassed Lance. “That’ll work out.”

“You can probably do it too,” said Keith.

“Oh yeah!” said Lance, enthusiastically waving his hands around like a magician about to levitate someone. When the flame finally lit, instead of appearing in his palms, it engulfed his entire body. “Ah! I overdid!” screamed Lance.

“Stop, drop, and roll!” called out Matt.

Lance did as told and dropped to the ground, flipping around like a dog in fresh grass. The flames kept going.

“Save your boyfriend!” Colleen barked at Keith.

Keith put out his hand flame and dropped on top of Lance, trying to smother the flames on him. Didn’t work. Now they were both on fire.

“I’m sorry,” sobbed Lance.

“Which one of you has water power?” asked Colleen.

“I’m on it!” yelled Allura, fountains of water appearing in her palms.

“Make that two of us!” said Veronica, producing the same dancing stream. They both drew back their arms like they were preparing launch the water towards Keith and Lance, but Pidge stepped between them.

“Stop!” she ordered. “The dumb dumbs on the ground aren’t actually burning. They can’t harm themselves with their own flame powers.”

That’s when Keith and Lance stopped panicking long enough to realize they were completely fine and the flames were nothing more than a light show dancing on their skin.

“Aw babe,” said Lance, looking into his boyfriend’s eyes who was laying directly on top of him. “You were willing to set yourself on fire for me.”

“I was trying to put you out, but yeah, that was the risk,” said Keith.

“My hero,” said Lance. “I really love you.”

“I love you so much,” said Keith, leaning down to kiss his boyfriend. A moment later when it became clear that this was making out and not just a kiss, Veronica and Allura decided to dose them with water anyway.

“Shimmer down you two,” said Veronica.

Keith and Lance got up, soaking wet and no longer on fire. “You’re just jealous because you’re not muy caliente,” said Lance.

“You look soggy to me.”

“So… powers,” said Hunk, holding out his palms that were now emitting a yellow glow. A moment later the darkness was cut into by all fifteen of them sparkling their new Guardian powers in their hands.

“Wicked,” said Pidge, growing a luminescent green vine in her palm and letting it wrap around her arms.

“Here’s a question,” said Romelle, sparking lightning in her palm. “Why are the lights still out?”

“The forming of the White Lion replenished the realms and granted you powers,” said Bored. “Doesn’t mean it can fix the broke stuff.”

“So it’s not just the astral plane that’s still broken,” said Shiro, the same lightning in his own palm.

“And it’s up to us to fix our own realms,” said Adam. “Great deductions, Romy, Takashi.”

“Allura,” said Shiro, “Can you move the veil?”

“No,” said Allura, “I can’t even feel it.”

“And there’s no escalator still,” said Hunk.

“Escalator?” repeated Krolia.

“It’s how we get down to the lower realms,” explained Pidge.

“So right now our realms aren’t accessible,” said Keith.

“Meaning if we’re fixing realms, we need to start here,” said Adam. “And hopefully if the astral plane is restored then the paths to the other realms come back too.”

“That sounds like a plan,” said Shiro. “How do we do it?”

Adam and Shiro looked at Bored. She cocked her head and said, “Do you think I’ve seen this done before? The realms were whole when I started working here. You’re on your own for this one.” Then she popped off.

“I guess we should’ve expected that,” said Shiro.

“The best we can do it try,” said Romelle, herding Shiro and Adam forward. She sat down on the ground and then lay down on her back.

“What?” said Adam. “Are we giving up and napping because I’m for that.”

“No,” said Romelle, “What’s the thing that broken here?”

“Er’thing,” answered Adam.

“The stars,” said Shiro, looking up.

“Right,” said Romelle. “So the way I see it is we need to put the stars back and what better position to try from than…”

“Stargazing,” said Adam, dropping down beside Romelle. “So romantic,” he said, grabbing her hand.

“Um,” said Shiro, looking at Adam and Romelle’s clasped hands.

“What?” shrugged Adam. “We’re a triad now.”

“Oh, so we are forming trouples with our realm partners?” asked Veronica.

“No!” chorused the Guardians from Green and Red who were filled with blood relatives.

“I’m sorry,” said Shiro, impatient. “Are we adopting Romelle or inviting her into our relationship.”

“I dunno,” shrugged Adam. “Prolly both.”

“Adam…”

“Queer platonic!” shot Adam. “C’mon, Takashi. Her soulmate turned into the soul of the universe. We’re all she has.”

“Romelle, you wanna weigh in on this?” asked Shiro, sounding so done in the way only space dad can.

“What? I wasn’t listening. I’m trying to focus my attention on fixing the realm. Shiro, get down here.”

Shiro lay down beside them and took Adam’s hand. 

“Twinkle, twinkle little star,” sang Adam, “I don’t know where the hell you are.”

“Is that an incantation?” asked Romelle.

“Sorta.”

“It’s a bad one.”

“I agree.”

“Sing stairway to heaven next!” suggested Lance. “Maybe then we’ll get a staircase to replace the escalator.”

“Fun fact,” said Bored’s voice which made everyone jump since she was standing somewhere none of their glowing powers could illuminate her. “It actually used to be a staircase. Mel changed it to an escalator because she hated those quiznaking stairs. Her words.”

“How did she change it?” asked Colleen.

“Using her powers she turned her intention into a projection everyone could see. I mean, none of what you’ve seen here ever actually existed or looked like anything. That’s why the layman’s term for this place is the infinite void since technically it’s nothing. We share in a mental projection. That’s how the realms work. Collective mindscape.”

“Good hint,” said Colleen. “You three. Get to mentally projecting the sky.”

“I’ll do it in a minute,” whined Adam as if mom had just told him to clean his room.

“What should we be concentrating on?” asked Shiro.

“I still feel Melenor inside of me,” said Romelle. “Her power is ours so we need to draw that out. Maybe by focusing on her and what we want to see out here.”

“Aw Mel B,” said Adam, “My ride or die B.”

“My protector,” said Shiro. “She never showed herself when I was trapped here, but I felt her presence watching over me.”

“They used to tell us stories of the mad queen back on the colony,” said Romelle. “I always thought she sounded cool. Queen Melenor, my soulmate…”

A bright light floated off the three of them, spreading apart into tiny pricks of light, rising up. They continued reaching outwards, becoming the stars and the constellations, filling the realm with light. The others gasped in awe of the beauty surrounding them that their friends had created.

“Don’t forget the red and blue stars,” said Shiro.

“Yes, those are seared into my brain,” agreed Adam. “How do we add them?”

“Fun fact,” said Bored, visible beside them now. “Melenor stamped those into the sky herself. They were a manifestation of her love.”

“For who?” asked Adam.

Bored shrugged. “She never said.”

“I think… we know how to add them,” said Keith, pulling Lance’s hand. Lance looked at his boyfriend with wide eyes. Keith sat and pulled Lance down with him. “They’re our colours,” he explained. “We can put them back.”

“Oh my gosh, Keith, that is so romantic,” gushed Lance.

“Just lay down,” said Keith, tugging Lance down onto his back with him. They gazed up at the sky together and a red and blue star blinked into existence.

“That looks fun!” said Veronica. “Axe, let’s try it!” She skipped over and grabbed her girlfriend’s hand and tugged her down.

“You don’t get to,” snapped Lance. “It’s special to Red and Blue! Keith and Lance!”

“Tough,” said Veronica. “Sky’s about to get two new stars. Suck it, Lance.”

“Yeah, suck it,” agreed Acxa.

Two bright purple stars appeared in the sky.

“Double purple?” questioned Lance.

“We like purple more than our realm colours,” said Veronica.

“Plus they’re the exact same colours as yours,” said Acxa, “and we’re not copying.”

“You’re kinda copying,” muttered Keith.

“I’m going to put Orange and Red for Alfor and I,” said Coran, sitting down.

“Okay, so apparently anyone one can put coloured stars in the astral plane and Keith and I aren’t special?” moaned Lance.

“We’re soulmerged,” said Keith, “How more special do we need to be?”

“I don’t know, but you’re the leader so stop them.”

“I’m not the leader here,” said Keith. “They are.” He pointed to Romelle, Shiro, and Adam.

“Romelle, guys, stop this chaos,” demanded Lance.

“I’m going to add stars for Mel and I,” said Romelle, “Mine will be pink. What’s her favourite colour?”

“Pink,” answered Coran.

“Perfect,” said Romelle.

In the sky appeared a red and orange star and also a pair or pink stars.

“Krolia, ya want one?” asked Romelle.

“No,” answered the Galra.

“You sure? I’m taking requests.”

“Fine. Red… is fine,” said Krolia, looking away all casual. 

“Any for your soulmate?”

“I have at least two soulmates,” said Krolia “So…”

“Yas future mother-in-law!” cheered Veronica. 

“I’ll give you three red then,” said Romelle. “I can always add more later if you find more soulmates.”

“I guess we can do four green for our family,” said Colleen, sitting down. Pidge and Matt joined her. They lay down and looked up. Five green stars appeared beside the three red.

“Five green?” said Matt, turning to look at his sister.

“I didn’t add an extra!” she gasped, blushing.

“Maybe you’re just bad at math,” said Bored, popping into existence sitting crossed legged beside her. Pidge jumped in surprise.

“I am not!”

“So uh, maybe this is way too soon and I probably should’ve asked you on a date first,” said Hunk, blushing as he spoke to Shay.

“What is a date?”

Hunk blinked. “Hoy boy. That’s… that’s a big cultural gap. Okay, I’m just gonna ask what I want to ask… would you like to put a pair of yellow stars in the astral plane’s sky with me?”

“Oh Hunk,” said Shay, taking his hand, “I thought you would never ask.”

As they lay down to add their stars, Adam rolled to his side to face Shiro. “Dammit, I wish we thought of adding our own stars before it was cool.”

“We can still do it.”

Adam made a dismissive sound. “I’m more of a trendsetter. I’m not follower. And like, what would the Black Paladin’s star colour even be? You can’t go with black for obvious reasons.”

“I don’t know,” admitted Shiro. “Maybe invert it and go with white.”

“All the normal stars are white and yes, as soon as I said it, I heard the racist undertones. I also have no clue what colour I’d pick. Like, there isn’t a single colour that encompasses my fabulousness and I, a gay man, should never be reduced to a such a limited colour pallet.”

“I have an idea,” said Shiro.

“Oh?”

“A very gay idea.”

“My favourite kind,” gushed Adam. 

“Ready?”

“Yeah,” said Adam with a smile.

Shiro leaned in and whispered something in his husband’s ear no one else could hear.

Adam’s jaw dropped. “Love it. But we have to do two.”

“Of course,” said Shiro, squeezing his husband’s hand as two rainbow nebulas appeared in the sky.

“Double rainbow,” squealed Hunk.

“What does it mean?” gasped Pidge. “No, really. What’s that?”

“It’s our soulmate mark in the sky,” said Adam.

“What the hel;?” said Keith, sitting up and looking over at Adam and Shiro. “You seriously going to outdo us?”

“Calm down little one,” said Adam, sitting up. “It’s our realm. We do what we want.”

“Matching stars were our soulmate thing,” said Keith.

“Oh, now you care?” questioned Lance.

“Back me up, baby.”

“You got it! Keith is right and everyone else is wrong!” said Lance, directing this at the whole group, who looked confused since they weren’t part of the argument.

“I thought you and I were aligned,” Keith said to Adam.

“Um yeah, sorry. Can’t hold back this sparkle,” said Adam with a dismissively wave.

“You can’t spark more than Lance,” protested Keith.

“Yeah, the razzle dazzle is mine,” claimed Lance, with a snap. “The rest of y’all are just borrowing it.”

Keith was staring in shock at Lance’s outstretched arm. “Did you just…?”

“Yes, I snapped for the first time ever and it felt so right.”

“Okay, seriously, how did you not know you were queer?”

“I dunno,” said Lance, shaking his head. “I’m well groomed, I’m an incredible dancer, I’m sassy as all hell… Big bi energy right here.”

Adam was watching this exchange with his hand over his mouth. “Takashi, can we -?”

“Yes, we can adopt Lance,” said Shiro, deadpan. “I assumed you’d eventually want to adopt everyone here.”

“Yes, and I accept. Look at all my babies,” said Adam sweeping his arms around. Then he frowned, looking at the last couple still standing. “Allura, Lotor, not to be that guy who points out the obvious, but it’s super obvious to all of us that you didn’t put stars in the sky.”

Lotor began to protest, but Allura stepped in, “I do not want one.”

“Yeah you do, girl.”

“I’m a Queen, not a girl.”

“Yeah well, Queen to fellow Queen, you know you’re eventually going to forgive him.”

“We do not know that,” said Allura, crossing her arms. “You barely know me at all.”

“I know your soul when this consciousness isn’t running it so I know you a bit. Look, just put some stars in for funzies. Doesn’t have to be serious even though everyone else is taking it super serious and representing soulmates with it. Put your stars together. Put them far apart. Move them to other sides of the sky if he betrays you again. Go nuts.”

Allura was silent for a beat then said, “Fine. For funzies.” She sat then lay back.

“For funzies,” said Lotor with a shrug. “Whatever that saying means.” He lay down as well and a moment later a pink and a purple star appeared. Not together, but also not too far apart.

“If we’re all done…” said Romelle.

“Wait. I should add one for Kosmo,” said Keith.

“Kosmo can add one himself when he feels like it,” countered Romelle. 

“How do you know?” asked Keith.

“He talks to me,” shrugged Romelle.

“Since when?” gasped Keith.

“Since I flew Black.”

“Dammit!” swore Keith. “Romelle’s better than me at everything. I think she’s my rival now.”

“Don’t fall in love with her!” gasped Lance.

“How do you think being gay works?” questioned Keith.

“If it’s anything like bisexual, you could fall in love with anyone.”

“Wrong and I love you, Lance. You know that.”

“True,” said Lance. “But I like tricking you into saying it as much as possible.”

“I think we’ve done it,” said Romelle, standing up. “At least I hope so. Allura, can you check the veil.”

“I can do this again,” said Adam, pulling the stars across him and disappearing for a sec before reappearing.

“Not the same thing,” said Allura. “Let me try.” Allura cracked her knuckles then threw out her arm. “I feel something now. I cannot get it alone. Lotor, Veronica, I need your help.”

“Literally have no clue what we’re doing, but let’s give it a go,” said Veronica, popping up and throwing out her arm in the same direction.

Lotor stood beside Allura and mimicked her gesture. “How will I know when… No, wait, I feel it.”

“Oh yeah,” said Veronica. “It’s kinda like looking at a tree blowing in the wind and pretending you have mind powers that are moving it. The veil wants to blow open, we’re just allowing ourselves to perceive the opening.”

“What?” asked Lotor.

“No, that makes sense,” agreed Allura. “It is a good analogy.”

Then the veil did move and a new light entered the astral plane, but it wasn’t the brilliant light from before and there were no souls waiting to greet them. Instead there was a large roar like a typhoon.

“That would be the sink hole, I’m guessing,” said Veronica.

“Let’s move,” shouted Allura running towards the light. Veronica and Lotor ran after her. And in a blink of an eye they were gone and the veil was shut.


	58. Splish Splash *BONUS CHAPTERS*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Paladins manifest a new way to travel between realms

“Good news!” called out Hunk, “We figured out where the escalator used to be.”

“How can you tell?” asked Pidge, approaching with the other Holts in tow.

“Well, there’s this hole I almost fell into.” Hunk point to the ground, but this supposed hole was hard to see if not impossible.

“Black on black,” said Coran, standing just to the side of Hunk and peering where he was pointing. “Not easily visible and completely unsafe.”

“I still don’t see it,” said Pidge.

“You need a certain angle to see it,” said Matt, gingerly guiding his sister to the right spot on the edge then suddenly jerking her forward while gripping her shoulders then yanking her back to safety.

Pidge screamed then turned around to her laughing brother and started smacking him. “Matt you motherfu –“

“LANGUAGE KATIE!” bellowed Colleen. “Also, think of what kind of relationship that suggests between the two of us.”

“The kind where you watched Game of Thrones and thought ‘life goals.’ Also…” Pidge threw out an accusatory finger. “He tried to kill me!”

“No, I pretended I was trying to kill you,” said Matt, calmly, “Big difference.”

“Knock it off you two,” warned Colleen, “I shouldn’t have to parent you when you’re both adults and not in your bodies. 

“Alright,” said Keith, “We need to replace the escalator. Maybe the Guardians of Imagination could –“

“Um, excuse me,” said Romelle, “Leakira, you’re not in charge here.”

“Wait…,” said Lance, “Are you calling us that now?”

“It’s the name the universe gifted your soul,” said Romelle as if this was obvious then she paused. “Wait… how do I know this?”

“Whatever, Ro,” said Adam with snaps for emphasis, “You don’t need to explain yo’self. She bringin’ Leakira back.” 

“When was it out?” demanded Keith. “It’s been like ten minutes since Alfor and Melenor became the White Lion.”

“Plus I never stopped calling you Leakira,” said Bored popping up beside them and frightening everyone.

“Will we ever get used to these sudden arrivals?” asked Shay.

“No,” said Bored. “I’ll just get more creative if you do.”

Romelle cleared her throat. “I think the Guardians of Imagination should be tasked with creating a new escalator.”

“That was my plan,” hissed Keith.

“That was the obvious plan,” countered Romelle. “You’re not the Black Paladin here. You’re a Guardian of Memory and I outrank you.”

“Dayum,” cried Adam, “I don’t know who to route for. My disaster gay son or my new Queen.”

“Instead of arguing amongst ourselves,” said Shiro in his calm dad voice, “Let’s put Romelle… and Leakira’s plan into fruition.”

Keith glared. “You too, Shiro?”

“At least he gave us partial credit,” said Lance.

“You didn’t come up with the plan,” spat Keith.

“Hey, we’re collectively Leakira. Our ideas are like a group think now. We both came up with them.”

Keith shook his head at Lance. “No.”

“Okay,” said Hunk, his breathing a bit nervous. “I think I can do this. This is what I’ve been training for. I think I can manifest the escalator.”

“I dunno,” hummed Bored, “Usually everything you imagine tries to kill you… which is exactly what the escalator does to visitors so you are indeed perfect for the task. Go on.”

“Stand back everyone,” said Hunk, holding his arms over the hole and wiggling his fingers.”

“Wait!” said Pidge, grabbing his arm. “Not an escalator.”

“Ugh, back to stairs,” moaned Bored.

“You levitate,” said Acxa pointing at Bored’s hovering legs.

“Yeah, but then I have to hear everyone complain about climbing them rather than hear them complain about the escalator lightning trying to kill them which is way more fun.”

“No, not stairs,” said Pidge, her eyes wide. 

“So a ladder?” asked Lance, “A ladder to heaven?”

“Nope,” Pidge grinned.

“So an elevator or…?” asked Lance.

“You’re not gonna guess.” She leaned in and whispered in Hunk’s ear.

“Oh my gosh, yes!” exclaimed Hunk. “Help me do it.”

“Obviously!” Pidge grabbed Hunk’s hand and they both closed their eyes in order to concentrate.

“Should we be worried?” asked Shay.

“Yeah, probably,” answered Keith. 

“I just checked in with the After team,” said Shiro, strolling over, “They said –”

“NO!!” screamed everyone at once.

Shiro froze with one foot hanging over the nearly invisible open hole. 

“Somebody get him,” ordered Keith.

“On it!” shouted Adam, sprinting towards Shiro and tackling him to the side and away from the hole.

There was a collective “whoa” since no one had thought Adam was capable of taking down a wall like Shiro, but then they saw the lightning sparking on his body and it made sense. He’d used his god powers.

“What is with you and your death wish, Takashi?” Adam demanded while lying on top of his very confused husband.

“I… I wasn’t aware I did something that could kill me… or that I could die.”

“Talking soul death here,” warned Adam then he thought better of it. “Or you’d be perfectly fine if you fell. I don’t know how it works. Bored?”

“I’unno,” she said with a shrug.

“Why did Trigel tell us you’d be helpful?” asked Romelle.

“I’unno.”

“Should’ve expected that.”

“Are you gonna get off me?” asked Shiro.

“I’unno,” said Adam, tracing a finger down his husband’s chest.

“Everyone shut up!” ordered Pidge. “We’re manifesting a miracle here!”

Silence fell as Shiro and Adam got up (one relieved, the other, begrudgingly.) They all stared at what they could see of the hole. Lance was on the verge of asking the very annoying question, “is it working?” at a volume level he thought was going to be acceptable, but certainly wasn’t when…

There was the sound of running water and then a gush as water poured from the hole. What the water was for wasn’t clear until is flowed down in twists and turns and diagonal drops, flowing farther down than the Guardians could see. A plastic base formed below the water, cupping it in a half cylinder, shaping itself to match the flow of the water. The ground before Pidge and Hunk became the entrance, a shallow pool before the jets that pushed the water down the plastic path. This small pool had just enough room for a person to sit.

“Oh my god!” gasped Lance. “A waterslide! That is so –”

“Impractical,” said Keith.

“- Incredible!” finished Lance. Then he jumped on Pidge and Hunk and hugged them from behind. “You’re the smartest people I know.”

“Awesome, Pidge,” said Matt.

“That does not look structurally sound,” said Colleen, considering it.

“What’s a waterslide?” asked Krolia.

“Literally what it sounds like,” said Adam. “A slide for water.”

“What do you do with it?” asked Romelle, sounding vaguely disgusted.

“You slide down it,” said Adam. “Oh, I guess it’s also a slide for people, not just water.”

Coran leaned down and inspected it. “How do you get the water to stay down like that? Why isn’t it flowing up?”

“Um, anyone want to field that one?” asked Lance. “Science people?” He looked at the Holts. Pidge was busy looking at Bored.

“Guys, she’s frozen.”

“Gosh, did we get her wet?” panicked Hunk. “I didn’t know she couldn’t get wet.”

Finally Bored spoke. “It’s… beautiful… and it looks way too long and fast like it’ll kill someone! I love it!” She looked at Pidge. “You’ve gotten really good at this, Knowledge Seeker.”

Pidge blushed and snapped her head away. “Hunk did it!” she yelled, pointing a finger at Hunk.

“Okay,” Lance, rolling his shoulder. “Who’s going to be the first to try this death trap? I call second if the first person doesn’t die!”

“Me!” cried Bored. “I’m first!” And before anyone could react, she sat herself down at the entrance (levitating above the water so not actually in it) and pushed herself off. She screamed all the way down as they watched her twist and turn until she was out of sight from where they were peeking through.

“That… that seems long,” said Lance, now backing away.

“She’s done now,” said Pidge.

The screaming started again. “I’m still going! This is terrifying!”

“Like it or not,” said Shiro. “This is the way to the lower realms now so the Guardians for Memory, Imagination, and Dreams need to take this down.”

“Alright kids, single file,” directed Adam, slipping into teacher mode, but also very noticeably taking the first position to ride. “Pssst Romelle, backwards cuts.” He pulled her into the line behind him, forcing Pidge back.

“Hey, no backwards cuts!” snapped Pidge. “That’s not fair!”

“Adam, Romelle, you’re not going down at all,” said Shiro in his dad voice.

“But why not?” whined Romelle, “I want to ride the splashy shoot of doom all the way to the bottom!”

“Because we’re astral plane Guardians and Guardians only have access to our own realm.”

“Except we can clearly all come here,” said Krolia.

“Also, Memory and Dream occupy the same space,” said Hunk.

“Feeling like there’s a lot of exceptions,” said Adam, dipping a foot into the water.

“Not for you. The only one of us that can visit all five realms is Bored.”

And as she often did, Bored chose that moment to pop into existence, right in front of Adam causing him to stumble back into Romelle’s arms. “I’m going again!” screamed Bored then she shot herself back down the slide.

“Oh good, it is not deadly,” said Shay. “Now I am excited to ride your slide for the fluids, Hunk.”

“Dirty,” muttered Pidge.

“Katie,” snapped Colleen.

“We were all thinking it!”

Shiro yanked Adam and Romelle out of line to the sound of them both groaning very loudly. Working with the two of them for eternity was going to be fun…

“Green team! Let’s move!” cheered Pidge.

“Hold on, Pidge,” said Colleen, licking her thumb and rubbing it on Pidge’s cheek. “You’ve got a bit of schmutz there.”

“I do not, mom!” growled Pidge, fighting her mother off. “If you see anything, you’re manifesting it yourself!”

“And, you’re all good! Let’s go!” Colleen darted around her daughter and swung herself to launch down the water slide.

“Mom!” said Pidge, stomping her foot. “I was supposed to get first run!”

“Snooze, you lose!” said Matt, pushing his sister out of the way and launching himself down headfirst.

“No fair!” moaned Pidge, “Why do I get stuck with you two?” She copied Matt’s move and dove headfirst.

“We’re next,” said Hunk, pulling Shay along so they could sit and ride down together.

“You’re not putting proper spacing between riders,” lectured Shiro.

“Here we go!” shouted Coran, trying to swan dive onto the start, but belly flopping instead because the water was so shallow. Adam kicked him along with his foot. “Much abliged!” he called out as he slid out of sight.

Shiro was glaring at Adam. “What?” he asked.

“You spoil them.”

“I was always going to spoil them. I’m already planning Lance’s quinceañera. I’m gonna hire Beyoncé to sing. Well, I’m gonna need you to do it since I’m dead and can’t actually attend.”

“Adam, Lance is over fifteen and not a girl and I can’t believe you got me arguing with you as if you were actually serious…”

“Alright, Team Palganosh,” said Krolia who was the only one using a Lion’s proper name, “Are we going to be outdone by them?” She pointed at the waterslide where the others had already gone down.

“No!” answered Acxa and Keith at the same time Lance said, “Probably!”

“On my mark,” said Krolia, holding up a fist to use as her marker.

“Too late I’m already going!” yelled Lance, darting past them before diving head first onto the slide.

“Lance, no!” yelled Keith, “We’re connected by our –ahh!” Keith was yanked forward by an invisible force and was pulled, no dragged onto the waterslide and down it after Lance.

“Ugh. Let’s just go,” groaned Krolia, running after Keith with Acxa on her heels. They jumped onto the slide and got whisked away.

“It doesn’t look too fun…,” mumbled Romelle, looking through the hole to catch glimpses of the other Guardians as they rode it down. A mix of screams and cheers drifted up to the astral plane.

“Yeah not too… I can’t lie,” cried Adam. “It looks so fun!”

“So fun!” agreed Romelle.

Shiro groaned. “If you ride it down you won’t have another way back up.”

Romelle and Adam’s gaze shifted over to Kosmo who was sitting off to the side, scratching his ear and minding his own business. Shiro sighed.

“Fine,” he said. “One time and you come right back!”

“Doggie wanna go for a ride?” said Romelle to Kosmo.

****

The slide had a long horizontal length at the bottom to eat up all the momentum from the rest of the ride. Colleen slid into it first, spraying water as she went until she slowed right before the end. 

“It has been way too long since I rode one of those.”

Matt was close behind her and knocked into her at the bottom. “Oops, pile up,” he said with a laugh.

Pidge came down behind her brother and slammed into his brick wall of a back. “Ah! Matt, what is your quintessence made from? Neutronium?”

“Naw, just been eating my Wheaties,” said Matt, flexing.

That’s when Hunk and Shay hit Pidge from behind.

“That was marvellous,” gushed Shay.

“I’m… dead,” cried Pidge as she was smushed between a rock person and hard body.

Then to add insult to injury Coran ran into the pile from the back causing a chain reaction that squashed Pidge further. She moaned. “Was that everyone?”

“Woohoohooooo!” The voice was unmistakeably Lance. Pidge just accepted the impact this time. “I wanna go again!” cheered Lance.

“C’mon,” said Keith, leaping over the side gracefully without slowing or ramming into anyone.

“Where are we going?” asked Krolia, jumping off before she collided with anyone and running after her son.

Acxa leapt off next, prompting Lance to scuffle his way to standing and trip his way over the side.

“Through those grey specters,” said Keith, pointing off the path. “Hidden behind them is an invisible cliff, we’re going down there.”

“Copy that,” said Krolia and Acxa in sync.

“Wait, are we just going for it?” asked Lance, who’d only just gotten on his feet.

But Keith, Krolia, and Acxa were already leaving the path, their Blade suits manifesting in place of their clothes as they dropped off the cliff and out of sight.

“They are so bad*ss!” gasped Matt.

“Wait! I’m not re – ahh!” cried Lance as his connection with Keith flipped him onto his back and dragged him off the path, through the memory ghosts, and over the cliff.

“And then there’s Lance…,” mumbled Hunk.

“KEITH!!” screamed Lance.

“Pay back for earlier!” they heard Keith yell.

“Their hustle makes me think we should start moving,” said Colleen, getting up and climbing out.

“Good, ‘cause I’m sick of being squashed,” said Pidge and she was just about to squeeze out from between Matt and Shay when a whooping sound distracted her. It was Adam, Romelle, and Kosmo coming down the slide. They collided with the end of the line causing everyone to squish Pidge again. “Ack! How are there more?”

Adam and Romelle immediately wrapped their arms around Kosmo, laughing the whole time, then they all ZAP’d away again.

“I have regrets,” groaned Pidge, climbing over the side.

“So where is our group going?” asked Colleen as everyone else climbed out of the end of the slide.

“Both are groups are going to the same place,” said Hunk. “Dreams and Imagination occupy the same space, or I guess, not space…”

“But you can’t be in both at once,” said Pidge, “Which one you’re in depends on who’s in control. You or someone else.”

“Ah, cryptic,” said Coran, scratching his chin. “So how do we get there? Follow the path?”

“The path leads to the start point,” said Hunk. “Let’s see… we ended up in Dreams/Imagination because I fell off the path and Pidge followed and then we fired our jetpacks and flew up which means it must be up.”

“Let’s go!” said Pidge, her Paladin armour manifesting over her Garrison uniform. Hunk’s did the same. They fired their jetpacks and launched into the sky. They quickly realized they were alone and stopped mid air to look down at the rest. “What’s up?”

“We do not have the fire spouting backpacks,” said Shay.

“Just manifest Paladin armour,” said Hunk, “You’re Paladins now.”

“Right,” said Matt, “…How do we manifest things again?”

“Well, I usually let Hunk do it for me,” said Pidge, pointing at Hunk.

“Um, little help?” grinned Matt, looking at Hunk.

“Happy to,” said Hunk, cracking his knuckles, “Paladin armour coming up!”

The armour materialized on the other Guardians. Green for Colleen and Matt, yellow for Shay, and orange for Coran.

“Oh,” said Shay, “Coran got a different colour.”

“I didn’t do that,” said Hunk, “Coran, did you change it?”

“Ah yes well,” said Coran, twisting his moustache, “It is my signature shade.”

“And it very flattering,” said Shay, “I wish to pick my colour as well.” The yellow on her armour changed to peach.

“I had a wart that colour once. Very nice,” said Coran.

“It is my favourite colour,” said Shay with a blush.

“Hey,” said Matt, looking at his mom. “Are you also trying to change your colour and failing?”

“Yes,” sighed Colleen. “I don’t know why it’s not working.”

“Don’t worry,” said Pidge, “I was terrible at manifesting at first too. Now let’s go!”

The four other Guardians fired up their jetpacks and as a group they all flew into the sky.

******

There was a ZAP as Kosmo teleported back to the astral plane with Romelle and Adam.

“Let’s go again!” cheered Romelle.

“Yeah!” agreed Adam.

“No!” scolded Shiro.

“Try’an stop us,” countered Adam.

“Yeah!” agreed Romelle

“You two have known each other ten minutes and you’re already bad influences on each other.”

“You so jelly,” giggled Adam.

Romelle dove for Kosmo to drag him to the slide but the puppers Zap’d off.

“Oh no, you have to actually work now,” said Shiro, sarcastically.

“But we already fixed our realm,” moaned Romelle. “Well, mostly I did.”

“But now our real job stars. We lead the others.”

“To be clear,” said Romelle, “leading is the same as bossing around, right?”

“Yep,” said Adam, “It’s also the same as ‘teaching,’” he put quotes are ‘teaching.’ “Which is pretty much why I got into ‘teaching.’”

“Why do you keeping putting air quotes around teaching?” asked Shiro.

“Why knows why I do half of what I do,” said Adam, “Alright, Guardians, hands in for Leadership.” Adam put his hand out and Shiro put his on top. They both look at Romelle.

“Oh? Do I put this here?” she asked, putting her own hand on top.

“One… two… there…,” said Adam. 

“Leadership!” cheered Adam and Shiro as they threw their arms up in the (Romelle withdrew hers, not knowing what to do) then they snapped over their shoulders.

“There’s the gay!” said Adam, jumping on his husband to hug him. “I was afraid you turned back.”

“Not how it works,” laughed Shiro.

“Also, Romy, you’ll get it next time.”

“What? The arm motion or the gay?”

“Both,” said Adam.

That’s when Kosmo ZAP’d back to the astral plane with another dog in tow.

“Is that Bae Bae?” gasped Adam.


End file.
